You Don't Have to Follow the Rules
by brookesey
Summary: Slightly ashamed to show my feeble attempts at fan-fic when compared to the awesome other BH fans who have put their work on here. First time I've ever finished a story though! Feel free to comment - over-ripe tomatoes and aerosol paint available as required. Lord Toby Whithouse and the BBC own Being Human and I wouldn't have it any other way. Tom, Hal, Alex, several OC's
1. Chapter 1

The girl stood on the corner of the alley, next to the wheelie bin, away from the street-light. Her face was shadowed, but there was just enough light to see that she had dark hair, and was wearing a black jacket and some kind of trousers, jeans probably. She moved slightly and a stray streak of light from the nearby bar caught her face for a moment and lit up the tracks of the tear stains on her cheeks. She stepped back against the brickwork again and waited.

The small clock above the jewellers shop chimed the hour – ten o'clock. The clock face was obscured by rain drops – the rain had stopped a short while ago however and as the girl stood looking up at the clock the clouds parted a little. A weak moon shone down through blustery skies.

Tomorrow, she thought, as the silver light fought it's way down between the rain drenched shops and bars. Tomorrow we'll find him.

A boy came silently from behind her in the alleyway. He touched her arm and she jumped slightly. His hair was damp, like her's, but not as dark, auburn perhaps, and his eyes were lit greenish blue in the glow of the street lamp.

"Come on," he pulled her gently by the arm. "Let's go now. It's alright."

"Are you alright?" she looked up at him, concerned.

"Yeah," he put his arm around her briefly before pulling away. The girl's face saddened for a moment. The boy pulled one of the curls behind her ear and smiled.

"There's just a few rats, but it'll do. Disgusting but…" he trailed away and rubbed his hand across his eyes.

"Let's get indoors, Danny," whispered the girl, taking his hand and leading him away up the road.

Danny sat up in bed, watching whatever it was that was on the television – something about antiques. It was early but Zoe was already crashed out on top of the other bed in the small guest house room that they occupied. She was exhausted, this was the third month in a row that they had tried to find help. Sometimes Danny thought that things were taking a worse toll on his sister than they were on himself. She hadn't even managed to get any of her clothes off before she'd fallen asleep – fully dressed and soggy haired she had literally dropped as soon as they had come through the door.

He attempted to get the duvet over her – with a bit of tugging and shoving he managed it eventually. The mirror on the wall caught his eye as he stood. His stomach twisted and clenched, he felt as if the floor had dropped away. He turned his back to the wall and faced the television again.

Tomorrow, he thought. It has to be tomorrow. It must be our chance tomorrow.

The antiques programme trundled on. The clock ticked. Zoe breathed deeply in the other bed. And Danny, the boy with no reflection, hid his face in his hands and wept.


	2. Chapter 2

"We ought to go and check out that huge open parkland area today," said Zoe the next morning, trying to pour tea, eat toast and read the local paper all at the same time. Danny was eating as much black pudding and sausages as he could without attracting anyone's attention. He nodded.

"It's the most obvious place I think," he agreed. "There's really nowhere else as wild as that around here. Unless…" he paused."…unless he has a place where he can do it inside."

He frowned slightly. Zoe paused, thinking.

"I don't think so," she spoke slowly. "I think you would only do that sort of thing indoors if there was nowhere to go outside." She paused again, then carried on with more conviction.

"And it would be loud, wouldn't it? I mean, imagine the neighbours!"

Danny managed a small chuckle. He pushed his hair out of his eyes – it had grown too long really in the last few months but he'd had other things on his mind.

"Yes," he surreptitiously stole another piece of black pudding. "Yep, you're right."

Zoe pushed her chair away from the table.

"Let's get going."

They spent the morning walking around the huge parkland area that they had seen originally on a map. It looked promising – craggy rocks, rolling hills and acres and acres of open space. There was even a fairly wide stream meandering it's way across the green of it all, which Danny eyed speculatively.

"Interesting," he thought. "Running water."

There were plenty of people around in the daytime – joggers, bikers, families and ramblers – all enjoying the late spring sunshine. The rain of yesterday had cleared during the night and a bright blue sky and beaming sun looked down on the siblings as they walked along together. Danny had to pull his baseball cap low over his eyes after a while, when they began to sting and weep, but even that didn't dampen his mood amongst that beautiful, sunlit countryside.

"Who would have thought it?" chuckled Zoe. "It doesn't rain all the time in Barry after all!"

In the afternoon they went back into town to check out the library and buy some snacks and drinks for the night ahead. After a while they walked up into the more residential area of Barry and began to notice and comment on some of the original older houses.

There was a house that had some kind of turrets on it, and one with a huge weather vane – another had bright orange walls. The one that made them both laugh out loud was a large house with blinds and stripey canopies that looked as if it would be more at home back in the 1970's.

"Honolulu Heights," read Danny, smirking. "Bed and breakfast accommodation."

"Well," replied Zoe. "our little guest house looks positively boring compared to that!"

So, after a while, they wandered slowly on down the road and back into town.

Full moon. Zoe sat in the passenger seat of Danny's car, waiting for her brother, and mulling over the events of the last few months. New Year's Eve was when it had all begun – at a party of two of their friends' – Danny had left with his girlfriend Megan and another man. In the morning, when he had come back, he hadn't been Danny anymore.

He'd been hysterical, she remembered, she hadn't known what to do. She had tried to calm him down and understand his twisted, stilted story. The other man had been called Jack, he had taken Megan and killed her, and then he had killed Danny, except he hadn't - Danny was stood in front of her,weeping.

But Megan had vanished, and Jack had vanished, and her brother had curious marks on the side of his neck. His eyes flashed black, completely black, and then back to green – he was pulling at his own hair, tearing it out in clumps, and screaming and biting at his own lips. The blood ran down his chin and he wiped it off and swallowed it, and his eyes flickered again.

Zoe cried with him, and held his hands and wiped his face. She bathed his swollen eyes and mopped them with a tissue – he took it from her and tried to suck the blood out of it, his own blood. Then the tears came again, for both of them and everything was hopeless for days afterwards.

They were careful – he always fed at night – animals, rats, dogs, once a cow. He said that it tasted disgusting, like bad meat, and Zoe knew that he needed something else, something stronger. They were running out of time.

So she cut the palm of her hand deliberately, and prayed hard – Danny came and drank and after a while she had passed out. As soon as she fell though, he had stopped and caught her, he'd actually managed to stop drinking. For a while they had thought it would be alright, manageable – he'd even begun to smile again. But one night he'd come running home, covered in blood – his hair matted, his clothes stained and ruined. They had both known then that this signalled the end of one life and the beginning of another.

Every night for a fortinight afterwards Danny had trawled through the alleyways and clubs of London's West End, fearful and furtive, trying not to breathe and take in the scent of all those humans. All the time he was looking, hunting, for a creature like himself. Then at last, in Leicester Square, a man came up to him and Danny knew they were alike. A faint aura, a strange feeling of bonding, togetherness. The way he stood, the way he moved. His name was Jason, or rather, that was the name that he used recently, he said, He was a Victorian, born just after the first Boer War. He laughed when Danny asked him for help, and told him it was ridiculous, he was a different being now, a higher ranked creature, unfettered by petty human beliefs. So the next night they had met again, and Zoe had gone with him, nervous but resolute, and they had stood together outside the Empire. Jason had stopped laughing, his face had changed – he looked sad, uncertain for a moment. Then he had told them to go to Barry and look for a creature like himself, but one who chose to live among the humans. One who was strong and clever and old, very old. He was strange as well, Jason said, he lived with his friend who was not like them – another supernatural though, a lower form – stupid and ignorant. Jason had laughed then, hiding the sadness he had shown so briefly, and wished them good luck because they would need it. Then he was gone, into the shadows by the Swiss Centre, heading up towards Chinatown.

So they had come to Barry. Zoe worked in an animal shelter – rotas were easy to change, and Danny a student, easy for him to bunk off of lectures. Although since all of their troubles had started he hadn't been attending many and was in danger of being kicked off of the course.

The first month they had seen and heard nothing and gone home despondent. Danny had taken out a Rotweiller and two German Shepherds the next night in an attempt to ease the hunger.

"I hate those big dogs anyway," he's said, trying, and failing, to look remorseful.

The second month they had decided it was easier to look for the Old One's friend rather than the creature himself – after all, his friend was governed by the moon and there were only so many places that he could hide. So they had gone to the park, and then the beach, but found nothing. Danny had sat on the bonnet of the car at about 5am with Zoe asleep in the passenger seat. His heart was in his boots and his stomach clenched up with stress and fear, fear of the hunger stealing up on him again. Then suddenly, from nowhere, he heard it – clearly on the wind – the howl of a beast not found outside the realms of a horror film. He had scrambled back into the car, and followed the sound. It had howled again, just once – the unearthly voice had led him out into the rocky, grassy parkland – but they were too late, the sun was rising and the night was over.

Now they had hope though, and they were back – they knew where to look, it was the night of a full moon and this time they were going to find him.

Danny climbed into the driver's seat, keys jangling in his hand.

"Ready?" he looked sideways at his sister and smiled, his little, crooked smile.

She nodded.

"Ready."

The engine revved and then they were gone, into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, think I may be getting the hang of this uploading business now! Big thanks to eyes and teeth, Scotch-Mist, Opositiv, ShoePigeon, paperclaire, make-mine-a-kiaora, and camillavirgil for their lovely and generous feedback! Hope that you all enjoy the new chapter – here we go…**

Midnight. They were both sat on the roof of the car. Zoe had the blanket around her because of the cold but Danny didn't feel it so much these days. The moon had been up about two hours but so far there hadn't been a single howl. They were both starting to feel rather depressed again.

"I spy with my little eye…" began Zoe.

"There's nothing to spy," moaned Danny, getting to his feet and standing up on the roof.

"I spy," said Zoe, through gritted teeth, "something beginning with 'L'."

"Lights," answered Danny flatly, pointing back towards the town.

"Clever clogs," muttered his sister, wriggling under the blanket.

"I spy," chanted Danny, sarcastically. "I spy with…"

A howl – strange, oddly melodious – and far too close for Zoe's liking, ripped out across the black fields. The twins were frozen for a moment and then without a word both scrambled for the doors of the car. Zoe ended up on the wrong side and found herself in the driver's seat. She went to get out again but suddenly Danny had her arm in a grip as strong as a vice, pinning her into her seat, as without warning a huge creature stole out of the woods on their left.

He was enormous, taller than any human man. He walked on two legs as they watched, coming slowly, sniffing, sniffing all of the time. His head was weaving from left to right, scanning the woods, scanning the night – hunting. His fur looked longer than Zoe had imagined it would be, but not as dark. She had thought it would be black, but it was a thick, wiry brown. He was alert, watching, and so close to the car now, so close…

Danny leant right in to her and whispered the tiniest, tiniest whisper that he could manage – "Don't do anything."

She nodded, a small movement in the darkness. She was frozen to her seat, suddenly terrified about what it was that they were trying to do. They were trying to track a killer – a killer blinded by his curse – one who couldn't be reasoned with, who couldn't understand why they needed his help so badly. She sat perfectly still as the wolf-creature came closer and closer until she could almost count the whiskers on his nose.

Danny was shaking and trembling, his hands were like ice. His fear was different to that of his sister's – it was born of a centuries old hatred between two different clans, a natural disdain and the condemnation of a higher race against a lower. He felt nausea rising in his guts – he had such a fierce anger and dread for that creature who prowled now outside the window of his car.

You'd better not touch my car, you filthy, stinking cur, he thought. The strength of his sentiments surprised him by their depth. He didn't know this beast – why should he feel such abject hatred towards him?

New feelings for the being that I am now, he thought bitterly, and rubbed his eyes.

The wolf's head snapped up – he had seen the tiny movement of Danny's hand in the darkness. He paused, growled – then leapt towards the car.

The huge creature hit the side door with a sound like a cannon going off and the vehicle rocked violently. Zoe screamed, she just couldn't help it, even at the time a little voice at the back of her mind said "How like a girl!"

Danny was leaning across her, hair in his eyes, his hands scrambling, snatching at the ignition and the keys that were hanging there.

"Press the accelerator!" he yelled.

"I can't drive!" shouted his sister.

The wolf hit the side of the car again and then leaped onto the roof, which buckled and creaked.

"Get him off of the roof!" hollered Danny, trying to turn the key.

"How?" shrieked Zoe. "Be realistic, how?"

The engine roared into life and the car lurched forward before cutting out again.

"Change sides!" Zoe was already trying to climb across her brother. "Change sides, we've got to get away from him!"

Danny wriggled underneath her, suddenly the wolf was off of the roof again, he hit the driver's side window with his head, deliberately, technically. The glass shattered, covering Danny, then the wolf was rearing again, leaning in towards them…

Zoe was horrified, unable to move – his front paws were on the window frame, his hot, rank breath filled the car – she was looking directly into his wild grey eyes. The car screamed forward again, the engine alive, throwing her hard against the dashboard and partly on to the floor as Danny stamped on the accelerator and the little car shot down the hill, with the wolf close in pursuit behind them.

They bounced and juddered along – down the rocky, pitted hillside. I hope that the suspension holds up, thought Danny, in the midst of all the madness. The twins were being thrown around inside the car – Zoe was pulling half-heartedly at the seatbelt but Danny had no chance and winced as his elbow cracked against the door frame.

The wolf was right behind them as they rocketed down the hillside. They heard the harsh metallic scrape of his claws once, twice against the rear of the little car. Danny could feel himself losing control – the steering wheel almost pulled itself out of his hands – they were trapped in a car being chased by a werewolf, plummeting down a hillside in the middle of the night. There was no way out – he glanced across at Zoe who was hanging on grimly with her mouth set and her eyes wide open in a kind of fascinated fear – she'd managed to get the seatbelt on at last. As he looked back ahead, in that instant he saw it – winding like a bright silver ribbon across the fields in front of them.

The car shot out into the little river, which was only about two feet deep at that point. Danny spun the steering wheel so that the driver's side with it's broken window faced away from the creature and then he was out of the car, staggering back in the water – the beautiful, flowing water that rippled and swirled around his legs. The wolf had stopped, uncertain and irritable, he paced to the left and right –but he could not cross the stream.

It works, thought Danny, incredulously. It really is true.

Carefully, he leant back into the car and undid Zoe's seatbelt. He put a finger to his lips and she nodded as she climbed across the driver's seat and out into the water. The wolf had backed off, he stood unmoving but lethal, his head cocked towards them. For a minute or two he was completely still and then suddenly he flung his head back and howled.

Zoe felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes – it was a terrible sound, loud and unearthly, and yet moving and haunting. It was as if every essence and fibre of the creature's soul was pressed into his mournful cry. She blinked to try and clear her eyes, blinked again and in that swift moment the wolf had turned – he was loping away slowly, towards the rocks in the distance, and they were safe, standing in the sparkling, flowing water that had saved both their lives.

**So, there we are! What do you all think? Would you have gone to track Tom down in the middle of the night during a full moon? Don't worry – our intrepid duo are about to…oh, I'd better not give it away!**

**I'm going to be really busy this week-end, so can't promise when the next chapter will get up here, but I'll do it as soon as is humanly, or superhumanly, possible!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Right! Thanks to RubyRosettaRed for all her help with this adding notes business! And thanks to everyone for your lovely reviews – glad that you're all still enjoying it.**

Chapter 4

The rest of the night was dreadful – they climbed out of the stream but were both soaked from the waist down, not a problem for a vampire but likely to cause mild hypothermia in a human. Danny had pulled a blanket out of the back of his poor little car but Zoe refused to take her trousers off, so now her jeans were still soggy, the blanket was damp and she was stamping up and down on the riverbank trying to keep warm.

Danny had wrestled both of their rucksacks out from the boot and they'd eaten the food that they had brought with them – and drunk the thermos of tea that Zoe had thoughtfully packed. They were both tired, almost exhausted now that the adrenaline had worn off and there were several incidences of mild squabbling as the night wore on. Once they'd heard the wolf howl again, and he was still close by – they'd looked across at each other and Danny had smiled, almost like his old self . Zoe had winked at him, and carried on rubbing her bruises with the little tube of arnica cream from the first aid kit, and had felt her own heart lift just a little bit.

* * *

Zoe jumped and woke suddenly.

"Nice snooze?" asked her brother, as he stood in front of her, swinging an unfamiliar khaki messenger bag.

"That's not mine, is it?" she asked, fighting her way out of the blanket, feeling sore and soggy and cold.

"Nope." Danny was looking pleased with himself. "It's a bag with a change of clothes in, and a banana, a big bar of choccy and an energy drink."

"Well, it belongs to someone," she struggled to her feet, staggering a little against the cold and aches. "They'll be looking for it."

"I certainly hope so." Danny was so cheerful that he was almost bouncing. "I'm hoping that it belongs to a naked bloke who was running around in a fur coat last night!"

"Seriously?" Zoe understood almost at once. "You think that it's his?"

"Logical," he grinned. He squinted at the just-rising sun. "We'd better go and look for him."

* * *

It seemed that their luck really had begun to change at last. They had only been walking for a few minutes when Danny put his hand up. Zoe stopped, just as a young man stepped out from the trees about two hundred metres away. He looked around furtively then streaked across the field in the direction of a rocky outcrop, where he paused and ducked down. Zoe had an insane urge to giggle but before she could Danny had stepped out from the trees, swinging the bag by it's handle.

"Oi!" he shouted, and a cropped head popped up from the rocks. "Is this your's mate?"

"Er, yeah," The figure waved. "Can you just…um… I dunno,"he finished lamely.

"Oh, give him the bag," said Zoe, feeling sorry for the unkown man hiding in the rocks.

Danny's hand clenched on the bag handle until his knuckles were white. He wanted to, wanted to give the other boy his clothes, and yet the instant he had seen him face to face that ancient hatred had crept up on him again. From nowhere he felt a haughty, inexplicable disdain for the man before him.

"Dan," Zoe was watching him. She touched his hand gently, rubbed the back of it with her thumb. "Give him the bag."

Danny swallowed. A sudden, awkward stab of affection towards his sister zig-zagged through his new vampire conscience and he handed her the bag.

"You give it to him," he told her.

Zoe walked towards the naked man hiding in the rocks. He was peeping out again, grinning embarrassedly, rubbing his arms against the morning chill. Zoe smiled back, she couldn't help herself, he had such a nice, honest face. At least he'd had the presence of mind to put his hands in front of any uncovered male anatomy as well!

"Here you go," she handed him the bag.

"Thanks," he grinned, and turned back into the rocks. "Dunno what happened, I was just like, camping like, and – er – someone came along and must have, like, stole me clothes."

"I think we stole your clothes," said Zoe.

"Eh?" the boy looked around sharply, luckily with his trousers on now. He had three long scars running down his back, she'd noticed, and marks on his head too – it had to be him. "You what?"

"We stole your clothes," she swallowed nervously. She was aware of Danny approaching slowly, very slowly from behind her. The young werewolf just stared at her, frowning now.

"We needed to find you," she continued, desperately. "We need your help. Please…"

Her voice trailed away as he looked over her shoulder at Danny. In that instant his face changed, hardened - suddenly from the khaki bag he had dragged out a stake and without pause lunged away from her towards her brother.

He knocked Danny to the ground – they were both kicking and fighting, rolling down the hill, and the stake was suddenly, terribly pressed up against her brother's chest. Zoe leaped onto the strange young man's back – she bit at the top of his arm, and his ear – she scratched at his arms but he was much too strong and continued to hold the stake against Danny's heart.

"I know what you are," he snarled down into his face. "I've killed loads o' your sort. I ain't afraid of you – only reason I ain't staked you yet is 'cos of her."

He nodded towards Zoe.

"Reckon you two have something to explain, don't ya? Like why a nice girl like her's hanging out with a bloodsucker like you."

Danny's eyes' were black, his teeth were – Zoe's stomach clenched – they were bigger, the canines were longer and sharper. But he fought against it, he shut his eyes – screwed them up against the sunlight, and turned his head back and forth on the ground. The other man shifted his weight away slightly – he seemed to be waiting, aware that the boy writhing beneath him was fighting against something bigger than all of them.

Danny opened his eyes at last. He felt exhausted, absolutely defeated. He looked at the young man above him. Truth was the only thing that could help him now.

"You said that you know what I am," he stated flatly. "Well, we know what you are too. We've come a long way and been looking for you a long time because you're the only person who can help me."

His voice broke on the last word. He tried again.

"I didn't ask for this life, it was forced on to me. And it's been forced on to her too."

He nodded towards Zoe, who had knelt beside him, tears beginning to leak from the corners of her eyes. She tried to wipe them away, and to speak, but nothing came out.

"She's my sister," and Danny touched her arm as the other man unexpectedly moved his body away, then the twins were hugging each other – Zoe curled up in a ball and Danny still lying on the ground. The young werewolf scratched the back of his head with the stake he was holding and rocked back on his heels.

"Well nah," he said mildly. "S'pose you'd better come along with me then."

Danny struggled to sit up as Zoe wiped her damp face with her equally damp sleeve. The other boy smiled.

"I'm Tom," he said. "And I got a friend what might be able to help you."

* * *

**There you go then, our heroes have met everyone's favourite werewolf! But you knew it was him by now, right? ;)**

**Next chapter soon – within a day or two hopefully.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Big, big thank you's to everybody who's sent me feedback so far for this story. Thrilled that you're enjoying it as much as I loved writing it, and hope it doesn't disappoint you as the story goes along!**

* * *

Chapter Five

The three of them were sat in the little cafe where Tom worked.

"It's on the house," he'd said, as he'd poured out tea and fired up the griddle. Danny had already eaten four sausages and was eyeing up a fifth. Zoe was pretty sure that he'd had at least two raw ones as well but Tom didn't seem to mind. The clock said twenty to seven.

"We don't normally open 'til nine," Tom told them, munching on his breakfast. "I'll take you's two home in a bit and then come back and open up later."

"We should pay for all this," frowned Danny. He still felt edgy around the other man. "Won't you get into trouble?"

Tom shook his head.

"Nope," he took a slurp of his tea. "I'm in charge mostly. It's on the house," he repeated.

Zoe smiled. She liked the young werewolf – it was impossible not to.

"So, where do you live?" she asked him.

"Oh, up the back of town," Tom nodded vaguely in a direction somewhere out of the back door. "It's a bit, well, old-fashioned like, but it's home." He smiled again. "Only proper home what I've ever had really."

He gobbled up the last of his breakfast and pushed back the chair.

"Right, give us your washing up and then we'll get off."

Zoe's heart jolted suddenly in her chest. She looked across at Danny, who shrugged. They were going to meet the Old One at last.

* * *

Tom told them some more in the car, about the odd lifestyle that he and his other friends' enjoyed. He hadn't lived in the house very long, just a few months, although he had known the people who had lived there before him – another vampire, two werewolves and a ghost. They had all died, or in the ghost's case, crossed over – Tom was clearly saddened when he spoke about them, especially when he spoke of the ghost, Annie. There was another spirit living there now.

"She's our Alex," chuckled Tom. "She's a right good 'un – Scottish like. Although-" he paused and glanced across at Zoe with a thoughtful look "-you'll most likely not be able to see her."

The girl raised her eyebrows.

"You're not a supernatural," he shrugged. "There ain't nowt what you can do 'bout it."

Danny turned round from where he was sitting in the front seat of the car and grinned smugly.

"Show off," said his sister, under her breath.

They were in the old vampire's car as Danny's was still stuck in the stream up in the parkland outside town.

"We'll just report it stolen," Tom had said, briskly. "Police'll find it in no time and bring it back."

The werewolf was just so laid back about everything. He whistled cheerfully through his teeth as the old car headed up the hill out of town. It was a beautiful vehicle – a genuine vintage Mercedes in perfect condition. It belonged to the vampire – Hal, that was his name – and he was extremely attached to it. It had belonged previously to his dearest friend and he only lent it to Tom on exceptional occasions. Apparently the full moon every month counted as an exceptional occasion which was why, luckily, he had the car or they would have had to walk from the park.

"Here we are," Tom pulled in carefully, checking his mirrors far more than was strictly necessary. "Home sweet home."

Danny looked out at the house that they were parked in front of. It was the stripey canopied 'Honolulu Heights' that they had walked past yesterday. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The ancient being who was about to control the destiny of his future existence lived in a dodgy ex - B & B in Barry. You couldn't make it up.

Tom was already out of the car and holding the door for Zoe. She clambered out slowly, suddenly afraid – of the house, the vampire, her brother – she couldn't remember, for a moment, why they were there. Her heart was thumping hard in her chest – should she be concerned? Wouldn't it affect the vampire? Would he be able to hear it? Smell her blood? Danny was different, he was still her brother, more or less.

He was next to her now, and took her hand firmly. His hand was cool, she squeezed it hard, and felt a little better, then with Tom leading the way they all went up the path.

* * *

**Just a short chapter this time, don't worry, the next one should be up tomorrow!**

**Hope that you enjoyed it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Are you ready? Because he's about to make his entrance – the Old One that you've all been waiting for! I hope that I've written him in character well enough. Enjoy!**

**This chapter is dedicated especially to ShoePigeon - "all things come to she who waits" )) **

* * *

Chapter six.

The first suprising thing that happened was the the front door opening by itself, well, that's how it appeared to Zoe. But Tom was talking, then Danny too, and he put his arm forward as if he was shaking someone's hand and then they all went inside.

The living room was huge and dark, with a bar that had optics above it, and neat, unmatching sofas. The carpet was – well – Zoe looked down, it was just hideous! Further up the room there were a pair of double doors with porthole windows which began to swing wildly as presumably the ghost – Alex, Tom had called her – went through into the kitchen beyond.

"Tea?" asked Tom cheerfully. "Coffee?"

"Yes please," said Danny. He always could drink tea for England thought Zoe, but she already needed to use the amenities.

"Oh, there's a little one out in t'hall," called back Tom.

She went out of the door that they had come in by and found a flight of stairs and behind them another door, and then the little W.C. When she came back out, she tried looking through the frosted glass in the other door – it seemed as if it might lead down to a cellar or similar.

Back in the large sitting room Danny was chatting more animatedly than he had in seemed to be talking to thin air but was obviously getting responses because suddenly he laughed out loud, with his eyes screwed up and his head thrown back. Zoe felt her own heart twist a little, tears absurdly pricked at the back of her eyes, because she understood now without a doubt that he would never be the old Danny again. He'd left her behind, with the humans, and joined another clan, a higher order – the supernaturals. Suddenly she felt very alone – she was outnumbered in this huge, crazily decorated, oddly furnished home. Involuntarily she stepped back – onto the toes of the man who had come silently into the room behind her.

"Ow," he snarled, and pulled away from her rapidly. She lost her balance, he caught her arm in a grip like steel to prevent her tripping over. For an instant ahe looked into his eyes – dark, brooding, unwelcoming – then he moved quickly behind the bar and stood with his arms folded.

"Tom, what exactly is going on here?" he asked, in smooth cultured tones quite out of place in the Barry guesthouse.

Zoe thought that her mouth was probably hanging open. She glanced at Danny who shut his suddenly with a snap.

He couldn't take his eyes off of the man behind the bar. He looked young, so young – no more than twenty six or twenty seven years old – and yet there was something about him, the way that he spoke, the way that he stood. He carried himself as if he were a nobleman, there was a presence emanating from him and Danny could feel all the years and experience that the other vampire carried within himself.

Tom was speaking to the Old One, completely normally, as if he was just, well, just someone's housemate. Alex had stood up as well, and sat herself on the bar with her legs swinging back and forth. Zoe had shivered involuntarily as the ghost had moved past – perhaps Alex had touched her accidentally – she must have realised for she looked across at Danny and shrugged.

"Can you apologise for me?" she suggested, in her broad Scottish accent.

"Er – " he touched Zoe's arm."Alex says sorry."

His sister just looked at him as if a steam-roller had run into her.

"She's going to blow in a minute," added Alex conversationally, nodding towards the other girl. "Meltdown."

"No she won't!" Danny looked alarmed and pulled his sister nearer. "She'll be fine, she's been my rock all this time, haven't you?" a small nod from Zoe. "she helps me all of the time, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her…honestly…"

His voice trailed off as he realised that the other two men had broken off their conversation and were listening to his. The man called Hal was looking at him intently.

"You are new to our way of life then?" he asked in his smooth, authorative voice.

"Yes,"Danny felt like a school-boy in the headmaster's office. He felt that he should explain futher but his mouth was suddenly dry.

"And your maker…?" Hal left the question open.

Danny shrugged.

"His name was Jack. I only met him once. He left me." His voice sounded angry, even to himself. Zoe looked up at him and suddenly he pushed her felt completely alone – he had been created and abandoned in one night and it was only now that he realised how truly desperate he was for someone, anyone to help him. His voice cracked as he spoke again.

"I don't want to end up like him," he whispered. "He was harsh and cruel – wicked…" he looked at Zoe again and caught her hand back in his own. "I want to be – human."

He dropped onto the couch and put his head in his hands. His sister knelt beside him. He felt the cushions move on his other side and knew that Alex was there as well.

Hal hadn't moved at all. He stood as still as a statue, his dark gaze resting on the boy, and then on the girl who for a moment or two had forgotten all about him, and the others, and were remembering another life that they could never have again.

He looked at Tom, who was leaning on the bar, smiling his gentle smile. Such a kind young man, thought the vampire. Such a good friend too. My friend when I needed him the most. He smiled back, and then looked across at Alex. She pulled an odd sort of face – she was quite good at pulling faces thought Hal, distracted for a moment, she had quite a reportoire of funny looks. Also cross ones, he realised hastily, as she glared up at him and jerked her head towards the two outsiders.

"I'll help you as best as I can,"he spoke abruptly. Danny looked up at him. "It's a hard path that you want to follow and you will not always win, but if you can find friends" he stumbled slightly on the word, "friends to keep around you, it will make it – not exactly easier – but more worthwhile."

He exhaled a breath that he hadn't realised he was holding. Tom grinned at him again and punched him suddenly on the arm. Hal winced, but flickered a small smile as well.

"Seriously?" Danny couldn't quite believe it, after everything that they had been through, that he really had found real help at last.

Hal nodded. His eyes roved across to Zoe, and his expression changed almost imperceptibly.

"But you must never be alone with me," he said to her harshly. "It's too dangerous. Do you understand? We must keep at a distance from each other at all times."

His eyes darkened for a moment with a peculiar, speculative look as he watched the only human in the house. Then it was gone again and he was back to his usual, haughty self.

"Do you understand?" he repeated.

Zoe nodded. She understood.

* * *

**So there we are – would you feel safe living at HH if you were Zoe?**

**More very soon!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Big thanks to everyone who's staying with me! Hope that you continue to enjoy it. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far. And now, over to Honolulu Heights...**

Chapter seven

For the next two or three weeks Zoe hardly saw the other vampire. In fact she hardly saw her brother – he was either closeted with Hal in a bedroom somewhere or busy doing one of the many tasks set him by the older man. Sometimes his sister caught him doing press-ups, she was sure that he'd counted up to fifty once, although he did look pretty knackered afterwards. She found him setting up some dominoes, putting them in a long, long line across the floor of their bedroom. He became cross when she asked if she could knock them down – that wasn't the point of standing them up, he told her. He had to set them all up, one by one, and then take them all down again, one by one. It was all to do with control he told her, control of the strange and malicious impulses that governed his life now.

He looked tired, thought Zoe. The dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced and his hands shook even more than usual – several times she had seen him put an object down as he found himself unable to keep hold of it. Once or twice Danny had glanced across at her to see if she had been watching – she had always pretended that she wasn't. She never felt uneasy near him though – he still said that at the moment he didn't covet her blood in the same way that he did others. Perhaps it was something to do with their being twins.

Hal was a different matter entirely though. If he was in a room when she entered then he immediately left, and after a short space of time she began to do the same. He never looked at her, or spoke to her – just stood and walked away. Once he had had to pass within three feet of her – she had seen a muscle clench in his neck as he looked away and when he passed by it was as if an electric shock had gone through her. She could actually feel the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.

"It's just his way," Tom had smiled at her, ruefully. "He's a grumpy old sod at the best o' times. And it's right hard for him, y'know? It's hard anyways, not to be drinking blood an'all, even worse wiv' you being here. Not that we don't like yer being here," he added hastily, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder.

_He _ doesn't like me being here though, thought Zoe sadly, although she understood why. She remembered Danny running home that night after killing a man, bloodsoaked and terrified, and she realised how afraid of attacking her Hal must be. So they carried on with their strange dance of one leaving a room as the other entered and of watching each other out of the corner of their eyes.

A mug of tea danced of it's own accord into the corner of Zoe's vision and she laughed suddenly. Alex was bringing her a cup of tea again. She took it off of the ghost that she couldn't see and felt an ice-cold pinch on her arm.

"Thanks Alex," she chuckled. The two girls managed to communicate quite easily with each other, although it required both of them carrying around post-it notes and pens. It still made Zoe laugh when she saw the pen writing by itself on the little bits of paper, but Alex didn't seem to mind. The ghost seemed to accept and even enjoy the other girl being there. Tom had caught them more than once laughing at something or the other, and it made him laugh as well. There hasn't been enough laughter in this house for a while now, he thought, and he was gladdened by the sound of it.

A post-it appeared of it's own volition in front of Zoe.

"I'm off out to the café," it read. "I promised Tom I'd bake scones with him."

"Bake scones?" echoed Zoe, aloud.

The pen jangled about in mid-air briefly.

"Don't laugh!" said the post-it, with a little smiley face picture.

Zoe laughed.

* * *

Danny felt exhausted. He'd conked out earlier after only forty three press-ups, then caught the dominoes with his elbow and sent them flying. He'd also refused to listen to some dreadful programme that Hal had wanted him to on radio 4. He knew that the older vampire was angry but he was just not having a good day.

The young man could feel something changing within him, something wicked trying to fight it's last spiteful battle. He never spoke of it, he even lied about it's existence to others. To even attempt to put it into words, to try and tell anyone else made him feel absolutely terrified. The sweat actually broke out on his forehead and down his back when that dark thought came upon him, his hands shook and his breath stuck in his throat. He felt the blackness behind his eyes, trying to purge it's way out – his stomach dropped and his heart ached. It ached so badly that he really believed it was breaking. The fear totally overwhelmed him and he could tell no-one – the thought, the terrible wish – that he wanted to slay his own sister.

* * *

Hal wondered. He looked at the boy sometimes and saw that wish that he carried, and the fear that went with it. He also saw however the love that Danny had for his twin, and knew that for a while that love would keep her safe. But not for ever, the Old One conceded. There was more than one reason why Hal kept a distance from Zoe, it meant that Danny was kept away from her too.

Hal heard the front door slam downstairs, following a brief flurry of cheerful, not-quite understandable chit-chat. He moved to the window and watched as Tom went jogging down the street with Alex half-heartedly tripping along behind him, laughing at something that the young werewolf had called back to her. He waited for a moment, but there was no sign of Zoe with them. He listened briefly, then sighed. There, on the floor below, quietly but steadily, a human heart was beating. Another morning about to be spent in his bedroom then. He sat down and picked up the case of dominoes.

* * *

Zoe had finished the washing up, and the drying, taken one load of clothes out of the washing machine and put another in, and then hung the first lot out to dry on the line. Tom had managed to construct a hammock which hung between two poles on the edge of the lawn so she went to lie down in it, but the breeze was too chilly, and it drove her back inside after just a few minutes.

She flicked the TV on, just for a bit of company, and sat idly skimming through the channels for a while. The house seemed large and empty without Alex and Tom around for company – the two vampires were lurking upstairs, but that wasn't much help.

The doorbell rang suddenly and made her jump. Without thinking she went to the inner door, then the front door, and opened it. Jack, Danny's maker, stood on the path.

"Are you going to invite me in?" he asked.

**Well? Shall we let him in?**

**More soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I hope that you're not getting too bored - not many reviews for the last chapter. Thanks to Opositiv for sticking with me! **

* * *

Chapter Eight

Zoe jumped back so quickly that she smacked her head against the inner door frame. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe – the air was catching in her throat. Her heart was hammering hard against her ribs – please don't, please don't – she thought, imagining the discomfort of the two men upstairs if they heard it. In an instant she knew what to do.

"Hal!" she screamed at the top of her voice.

"Hal!" she yelled again, so loudly that she heard her own voice crack. She didn't need to call again - he was there behind her, his hands cool on her arms, moving her aside and standing in front of her. He put his hand up on the wall to prevent the other vampire getting any closer to her.

"Can I help you?" he spoke cordially, but his eyes were like flint.

"May I be allowed in please?" Jack gestured inside, still polite but with a faint air of wariness about him now.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Hal answered, indicating Zoe with his head. "Can you guarantee her safety?"

Jack pondered her thoughtfully, his eyes dark but not blackened with hunger. He smiled slightly.

"I think so," his grin became wider." She smells too much like a lyco for me."

Hal's face was expressionless. Zoe wished that she knew the thoughts that were going through his head at that moment. She heard steps on the stairs and felt her brother move gently next to her. He squeezed her hand, unspeaking.

Hal dropped his arm to his side and looked across at her. For the first time since the day that they had arrived he looked directly into her eyes. It was a careful, controlled, steady gaze – he's working out what to do, she realised – then slowly he took her hand as Danny let go. He took it and kept hold of it, pulled her right up against himself and then put his arm around her so that she was held against him firmly. His muscles were tensed as if he were ready to spring, she could feel them through his clothes. It sent a thrill of fear through her – it was like standing next to a hunting panther. But as she trembled next to him, he unexpectedly rubbed her arm gently with his thumb – once, twice – and she remembered that Hal was on Old One, clever, strong and powerful. She relaxed slightly.

He gave the vampire on the doorstep a long calculating look.

"I forbid you to come within five feet of her," he told Jack." Do you understand?"

Jack didn't hesitate. He nodded, then bowed slightly.

"I understand and I will obey," he stated.

Hal paused for only a second or two.

"Then you may come in." he said.

* * *

Danny stood behind the bar with his elbows leaning on it. Zoe was sat at the table in front of the window, as far away as Hal could put her from Jack. The other two vampires sat, one on each sofa, talking quietly.

"It was wrong of me to have left the boy," Jack said, glancing up at Danny. "My only excuse is that I had other business to attend to that night. You –" he nodded towards the young man " and your friend were…collateral damage. Sorry."

His apology wasn't entirely genuine, Danny thought. After all, killing and recruiting were what vampires did. Most of them anyway. He looked at Hal, who was giving Jack one of his most haughty stares. The Old One was doing a good job, keeping Danny's mind occupied, keeping his body busy and yet if Jack ordered him to go with him he would, he knew it without a shadow of a doubt. One of the first things that Hal had shared with the younger man was that if your maker commanded you to perform a task then it was almost impossible not to obey.

"That wasn't much help to the boy," Hal indicated across, "I beg your pardon – to Danny." He smiled briefly at the young man. "He had no help, no instruction whatsoever. He didn't even return with any of our own kind beside him. Your actions were inexcusable."

You tell him, thought Danny.

"Well, that's why I'm here now," His maker stood and straightened out some imaginary wrinkles on his shirt sleeve. "I would like to bring _Danny_," he accentuated the name, "with me for a while, to help teach him about this new world that he has entered."

Hal stood as well. His face was thunderous but when he spoke his voice was even.

"I believe that is what I have been doing." He walked forward several paces. Danny swallowed nervously – they weren't going to fight over him were they? To his surprise Jack stepped back and he realised that it was due to Hal's presence – the old vampire's essence was so strong that he could control the younger creature subconsciously.

"Of course." Jack shrugged. "And you've done a great job. Albeit a strange method that you seem to have going on here. But," he paused slightly, "the boy does belong to me."

Hal looked directly at Danny.

"He speaks the truth," he told him. "It is our way – a maker has rights over a vampire of his own creating that cannot be overlooked or overturned by another. Even by one as old as me," he added, and his face softened fractionally for a moment. He glared back at Jack.

"But you will turn him into what he does not want to be," he accused." He came here for a reason, he found us here for a reason. He wants to be…"

"Human," broke in Danny. The other two men faced him, only Zoe looked away. Her brother suspected that she was crying.

"I wanted to stay human," he looked at Jack. "I hated you, you abandoned me –" his maker made as if to speak but the younger man put up his hand" you left me to get on with this life alone."

He turned to Hal.

"You were totally there for me when I needed you," he said, and the older vampire knew that he spoke directly from the heart. "I can never, never thank you enough for what you have done for me and the help that you have given me. But…"

He paused, shutting his eyes for a moment. He looked back at Jack again.

"I _will_ come with you," Zoe made a tiny noise over by the window. He ignored her and carried on. "It may be wrong, but I need to know, I must know what is out there – that life you lead – the powers that we can use."

"Danny," interjected Hal. The boy shook his head.

"I know," he said, and there were tears in his eyes. "I know that I will fail, that I will drink blood. I won't be the person that I've been trying to be, not yet anyway, but I will come back."

He was looking at Zoe now, who was unable to meet his eyes.

"I will come back to you all, I promise you," he reached out for Hal's hand and gripped it hard, the other vampire returning the pressure, understanding everything – the urges, the blood-longing - and the underlying wish to keep his sister safe.

Danny couldn't speak for a moment – he kept hold of Hal's hand and shut his eyes tightly, tears tracked slowly down his face. Jack stood motionless also – even a wild creature like he was could feel the emotional turmoil within the younger man.

Danny opened his eyes again. Hal's nod of understanding was almost imperceptible as the boy let go of his hand and straightened his shoulders.

"Very well," Hal's voice was low and sad. "We will be here for you when you return. I promise."

So with that, Danny's fate was decided.

* * *

**There we are then! Did you expect that turn of events?**

**More soon :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Advance warning – this chapter is rather a sad and gloomy one. Needs to be done though, so that we can move on to where we are going next. Thanks for all the reviews and for sticking with the story!**

Chapter Nine

Zoe sat on the bed, not quite believing what was happening in front of her eyes. Danny was slowly packing his things away into a rucksack, preparing to leave. Neither of them had said a word to each other since the outcome of the meeting downstairs.

There was a jumble of thought's in Zoe's head – she had given up her whole life to come with her brother to Barry –let go the lease on their little flat, handed in her notice at work, she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do now. To return to their domineering mother's home in London was not an option. Slowly she pulled her own bag from underneath the bed.

"What are you doing?" Danny's voice was low, choked. His sister glanced up at him.

"Leaving," she shrugged. Her brother was silent for a moment.

"But you don't…"

"Yes I do." Zoe's voice was flat, unemotional. "We came here for you. I don't need to stay here now. I've got nothing in common with the others."

Danny couldn't think straight. He hadn't imagined, in all his anguish and agitation, that Zoe would now be left alone. He put his hands up to rub his temples and sank down on the edge of the bed. When he spoke it was so quiet that his sister could barely hear.

"I have to do this," he whispered. "I have to know this world that I've been brought into – I need to live in it, feel it." He paused. "I know that Jack is – different to Hal" Zoe went to speak but he put his hand up to stop her, "I know that he's a fully functioning vampire, in every sense of the word. And Hal isn't."

He was on his knees now, in front of her, pleading.

"Hal's not of that world anymore, not fully. He doesn't live that way. I _must _know, I _need_ to know everything about this new world."

"But Hal's had his bad times," Zoe argued." You told me – his cycles – he's been as much a vampire as Jack, even worse, you said so. Surely he can teach you by telling you about it?"

Danny shook his head.

"I need to experience it," he said. "I didn't realise it myself until Jack turned up here. I have to go with him. I must."

There was silence between them. Zoe pressed her lips together. Her brother pushed himself up wearily and resumed his packing. There was that other thought in his mind as well – the furtive, wicked desire – he could hear her heart, see the pulse in her neck. He could sense the blood hurtling through her veins – Danny partly turned back towards her – but then stumbled from the room, rubbing at the blackness in his eyes.

Zoe remained, sitting alone on the bed with her rucksack across her lap. Helpless.

* * *

The twins didn't speak again. Half an hour later Jack stood at the front door with Danny beside him, clearly upset but determined to try and work out his own path in this strange new world. Tom shook his hand.

"See ya later, mate." They embraced briefly. "Tek care o' yourself – yer know where we are if you need us."

Danny nodded his thanks, suddenly unable to speak. Alex was next, hugging him tightly – she gave him a kiss too, trying to bring a smile to his face and lighten the mood a little. Hal was more sombre, he shook the younger man's hand briefly – he only ever touched people briefly – and nodded.

"Good luck," was all that he said.

Zoe sat on the stairs, halfway down. Her brother looked up at her, but everything that they could possibly say to each other at this time had already been said. She thought anyway, that if she'd tried to speak then the floodgates would open and she would not be able to stop. Tom glanced at her and went to say something but Hal stopped him. She couldn't see Alex, she didn't even know if the ghost was still there. Then Jack had moved away down the path, Danny with him – he looked back once- Zoe was still sitting like a statue on the stairs, and then they were gone and Tom shut the front door.

* * *

Slowly, as if sleepwalking, Zoe loaded one item after another back into her rucksack. She would just have to go back to London, try and return to her old ways, get a new job and meet up with her friends' again. Not that she had many friends, she had always been an individual sort of girl, not one to fit in with the crowd.

She pulled the ties of the rucksack closed and sat back on the bed. Tears were behind her eyes, ready to fall at a moment's notice, and yet somehow the time was not quite ready for them to be released. She would have to go to the coach station in Cardiff to get home, she supposed, Danny's little car would stay outside the Barry guest house until – well – she didn't know until when. She fought down a few stray tear that threatened and then on impulse pulled out a notebook from her bag and began to write.

"Thank you so much for helping us," she put. "Thank you for everything that you did for Danny, we will both be grateful to all of you for the rest of our days."

She paused, unable to go on for a minute or so.

"I'm going back to London to my normal life," she continued, and then in a sudden rush of emotion and truthfulness "I will miss you all so much, my heart breaks to leave you, but I'm not a supernatural and so can't stay."

She signed her name quickly, thinking that the tears, finally, were on their way. Throwing the letter onto the bed she yanked up her rucksack and tiptoed downstairs and out of the quiet house. Tom had gone to work. Hal was listening to the radio in his room.

Alex, standing in the corner of Zoe's bedroom, watched her leave - and then picked up the letter and began to read.

**There we are – a slightly shorter chapter. More soon!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Big thank you's to everyone who's staying with my little story and thanks for all your feedback and reviews. Hope that you enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter Ten**

The coach station was busy, the queue for tickets long and the coach to London had just left.

"Next one's cancelled, I'm afraid," the man behind the counter told her. "Cutbacks."

He checked his computer again. "There's room on the seven o'clock service tonight though."

Zoe didn't care. It seemed to her as if nothing mattered anymore. She just nodded and bought the ticket and then went off to sit in a quiet corner with just her rucksack for company. It was only just after four o'clock – nearly three hours to wait until the next coach. She leant against her bags and shut her eyes. A traitorous tear, followed by another, leaked out from under her lashes and slid slowly down her cheeks. Zoe rubbed them away, terrified of breaking down in this hurly-burly, busy open space. She went to the kiosk nearby and bought a magazine to try and distract herself with, but only succeeded in using it to cover her face as she almost constantly wiped away one tear after another and tried not to sob too loudly. Her nose was running too – she briefly lowered the magazine to look for a tissue in her bag and nearly jumped out of her skin. Hal was stood directly in front of her.

Zoe tried to stand but before she could, without saying a word, the vampire had sat down next to her and put his hand gently over her's. The next thing she knew her head went down on her knees, the floodgates opened and she sobbed for England.

Hal just sat still and rubbed her hand gently as she wept. When the storm looked as if it was dying down he gingerly offered her his brown silk handkerchief which she wiped her face with and blew her nose on loudly.

"You keep it," he whispered, when she made to give it back. She gave a small, soggy laugh but had to wipe her eyes again.

She wanted to speak, Hal knew, so he waited while she cleared her thoughts and pulled herself together. He just sat, with her hand resting under his, until eventually Zoe brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked up at him.

"Why did you come after me?" As soon as she spoke fat tears started sliding down her face again, and she covered her face with her free hand.

"Because," he knew that she needed the truth, not just some trite, flowery speech. "because…we care about you now. Tom and Alex, they've become fond of you. You don't have anywhere to go, do you?"

She shook her head.

"So, until you do, you are welcome to stay with us. You came to us for help, remember? Not just help for Danny, I believe."

He was right, she realised. She hadn't even known it herself, but she _had _needed them all -needed their help and support, needed their wisdom and friendship. She wiped her face again and looked up at Hal. Unusually he returned her gaze, and she noticed for the first time how kind his face was, when he didn't have his usual uptight, stern expression on it.

"Honolulu Heights has been a haven to many different people over the last few years," he said gently. "Werewolves, vampires – even other, stranger creatures. It can be your haven as well, for as long as you require it."

Zoe bowed her head again. The old vampire moved his hand up to touch her hair very briefly and then pulled away, to rest it on his knees.

"What about you though?" she whispered. "Isn't it more difficult for you if I'm there?"

Hal smiled faintly.

"We all have good days and bad days," he said. "If it's a bad day then I'll just stay in my room. I think we are beginning to understand each other a little better of late anyway though, aren't we?"

Zoe nodded.

"So, what do you say?" Hal looked at her, his hands on his knees. Zoe wiped her eyes for the last time and smiled.

"I wonder if they'll give me the money back for my coach ticket?"

* * *

The two of them drove slowly home through the rush hour traffic. Hal had gone back to the ticket office, and spoken very politely to the man there, and looked extremely haughty and slightly scary. Zoe now had the unused ticket money back in her purse.

"How did you know where to find me?" she asked eventually, breaking the silence.

"It wasn't that difficult," Hal looked straight ahead, negotiating a tricky manoeuvre between a bus and a taxi. "We realised that we weren't going to make it to Barry station in time, so Alex just rentaghosted between the ticket offices in the coach and train stations at Cardiff until you turned up at one of them. Once she realised that you'd missed the London coach she knew that there was time to come home and fetch me."

Zoe nodded slowly.

"Thank you," she said again, rather shakily and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Hal looked briefly across at her, alarmed.

"You know that I don't have another handkerchief with me don't you?" he said quickly.

She chuckled and sniffed.

"But really. Thank you. For coming after me."

"Don't mention it." Hal pulled away from some traffic lights and headed towards the outskirts of Cardiff. "Seriously, _don't_ mention it. The floor of that coach station was disgusting – I can't actually believe that I sat on it."

* * *

It was late evening. True to form Hal had come straight in from the coach station, taken all his clothes off and put them straight in the washing machine on a hot wash.

That'll do his jumper a lot of good, Alex had post-it'd. She'd stuck the note onto the window in the machine door – Hal had ripped it off with a scowl when he'd taken out his clean clothes and discovered that indeed, the hot wash hadn't done his jumper any favours.

"Come on nah," Tom had told him, having just come in from work. "Friendship's worth more than some old woolly cardigan, ain't it?"

"It was _not_ a woolly cardigan, it was a cashmere sweater!" growled Hal, depositing it in the rubbish bin.

"Well, it's not anythin' now," chuckled Tom.

"Not funny," had snapped the old vampire, and stumped off upstairs.

Zoe had felt a pang of guilt, but the young werewolf shook his head at her.

"He don't really mind," he said, smiling. "He's got plenty more clothes up there. It's his routine getting in a mess what winds him up more than 'owt. Let him listen to radio 4 fer a bit and he'll be right as rain."

So the two of them had eaten their dinner – omlette and chips – and Alex had entertained them with her rentaghosting skills. Watching her try to teleport the tea urn had made Zoe laugh harder than she had in a long time – the sight of it appearing in the back garden was the funniest thing that she had seen in ages. Tom was roaring as well.

"You should see her face!" he laughed. "Don't think she meant to tekk it there!"

Now they were all in the large, cosy living room of Honolulu Heights. Tom and Zoe were on one sofa, Hal had come back downstairs and was sat on the other. Alex was in the chair, making it twist left and right. There was a programme on about World War One which they were only half watching, the boys were waiting for Antiques Roadshow at 11 o'clock.

Zoe thought about Danny, out in the world somewhere with his creator. Her heart felt heavy, like a stone sitting in her chest, but she realised now that he needed to do this. He needed to know truly about the man who had made him and the life that he led. Even though he would probably be feeding on human blood. She glanced surreptitiously across at Hal, who was twirling his double one domino over and over in his hand as he watched the television. She couldn't even begin to comprehend the strategies and difficulties that he faced every day, not to run amok through Barry ripping peoples' throats out. Zoe felt a sudden rush of friendship and kindness towards the odd, old vampire, with his young face and fathomless eyes.

She leant across to Tom and hugged him tightly.

"What's that fer?" he asked, surprised but pleased, hugging her back.

"Just saying thank you," she smiled up at him, blowing a kiss to the invisible Alex in her chair. Tom looked over at the ghost and then back at Zoe.

"She says are you somehow drunk?" he chuckled.

"Quiet now," commanded Hal, the domino now placed carefully on the arm of the sofa. "Antiques Roadshow is coming on."

* * *

**End of Part One! **

**End of the first adventure! **

**Part Two coming shortly! You didn't think that I was finished with them yet, did you?**


	11. Chapter 11

**Massive thank you's to everyone who so favourably reviewed the earlier chapters of this story! Special mention to MancVamp for reviewing five chapters all in one go! **

**Well, here comes part two - good luck everyone :)**

Chapter 11

For the next few weeks the house settled into a pleasant, comfortable routine. Tom went off to work in the café most mornings, occasionally with Hal in tow. Zoe had been lucky and found a holiday season job at a beach hut shop on the seafront at Barry Island – well, part-time was better than nothing at all. Alex stayed at home and did a bit of housework, other times she went to torment the boys at the café. If Hal stayed at home she knew to keep away from him if he was in his room – they all understood how necessary it was at the moment for him to control his addiction.

Tom had told Zoe how, a few months earlier, Hal had drunk blood after abstaining for over fifty five years, and how badly it had affected him. It had almost tipped him over the edge into becoming a monster again.

"I think it's partly Alex and partly me who helped him through," the werewolf said, reflectively. "I mean, us being best mates like, y'know, and on account of it being Alex's blood what he drunk."

"He killed her?" squeaked Zoe.

"Aw, nah," replied Tom, reassuringly. "Another vampire done that. Hal just drunk her blood."

"Er…" Zoe couldn't think of anything to say.

"They do snipe at each other a fair bit," he said, meaning the ghost and the vampire. "But I think Alex is beginnin' to understand him more. An' really they do both like each other underneath." He finished with a grin.

They had had to tie Hal to a chair, he said, and wait for the blood madness to recede, and listen to him ranting and swearing and spitting at them.

"Spitting is disgusting," stated Zoe firmly. "whether you're a vmpire or not. I'd have slapped him."

Tom burst out laughing.

"Oh, Alex did, don't worry," he chuckled. "At least three times."

Eventually he had come back to being the Hal that they knew again, so Tom had untied him, and the vampire went back to his strict routines.

"He done really well when you turned up," commented Tom. "not to go back off his rocker or 'owt."

"Well, that's a relief," said Zoe fervently. She realised even more now how hard it was for the old vampire to resist the blood craving and call of his own nature, and she could only admire and respect him the more. So sometimes when he smiled apologetically and left a room as she entered, or on evenings when he didn't come downstairs at all, or during days when he just sulked and snapped at everybody – she realised that it was just Hal being Hal and living his life in the way that he knew best.

It was about a month after Danny had left when Zoe first noticed them – two women standing on the opposite corner at the bottom of the road. One was young, typical blonde gym babe, the other was older, grey-haired, rather hippy-ish looking. They seemed out of place, standing together. She didn't pay them much attention though, as she trudged up the hill from work, and they ignored her as well, murmuring quietly to each other. It was only when she turned up the path to Honolulu Heights and looked back down the street that she realised they were watching her now, much more interestedly, and talking animatedly to each other.

She went indoors though and forgot all about them, until the next day when the younger one was there again, with a man. They moved off as she came towards them, and didn't speak, but she felt as if they were watching her all the way up the hill. When she looked back from the front door, sure enough, the girl had gone but the man stood gazing at her.

Zoe felt quite uneasy – Tom wasn't indoors though and she didn't want to worry Hal. She peeped out of the front blinds and he was still there, on his mobile phone now, but as she watched he walked away down the road and disappeared.

They weren't there the next day, or the next – the day after that Zoe had a day off and didn't go out – but again, the following morning, there was someone there as she came out of the house. She stopped suddenly – the older woman was on her own today, she seemed slightly discomfited at being so obviously spotted and quickly left before Zoe could get back into the house and find Tom.

"I've not seen no-one watchin' the house," he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "'ave you Alex?"

There was a pause of a few seconds.

"She says that she ain't either, but then she's not too _observerant _at times. Hey!" He dodged the obvious slap that the ghost must have levelled at him.

"It's good like, that yer told us though," he said seriously. "We'll all keep an eye out. C'mon, I'll walk yer down to work."

There was no sign of anyone sinister as the two of them strolled down the hill – as they neared a hedge near to where the two unknown people had been standing Tom loped across the street. He tapped his nose.

"Full moon tomorrow night," he grinned. "Me nose is extra-sensitive right now."

He sniffed gently by the hedge, and close to the lamp-post, then suddenly he became more urgent – he dashed back to Zoe and took her hand, dragging her back towards the house.

"It's faint, like," he began, as he pulled her along. "but it smells like vampires to me."

"What?" Zoe stopped suddenly, staring at Tom. "Seriously?"

"Aye." He rubbed the back of his his head. His face was worried. "That's all we need, them lot hangin' about again. Why can't they just leave us alone? I'll have to whittle meself some more stakes. C'mon."

He made to go back into the house but Zoe was having none of it.

"I have to get to work," she said. "Come on, I'm stuck in a beach front shop all day behind a counter – surely I'll be safe there?"

Tom paused for a moment and looked thoughtful.

"Awright," he said at last. "But I'm comin' wiv yer. And I'm bringing Conan."

Conan turned out to be one of Tom's favourite stakes. Zoe looked dubious but relented. Neither of them told Hal or Alex what they'd seen – Tom just said that he was needed at the café. The ghost raised her eyebrows at him but he shook his head and indicated the old vampire, who pretended not to notice. However, as they walked in the direction of town Hal watched them from the sitting room window before relaxing slightly and going back to his dominoes.

Zoe's shift at the beach hut passed off uneventfully. Tom hung around for a while but when it was obvious that nothing was going to happen he slipped off to the café for a while, returning just before it was time for Zoe to go home.

There was no-one waiting at the bottom of the road – Tom sniffed around where the woman had stood earlier in the day but he said the scent had gone. No vampire had returned during their absence.

"Shall we tell Hal?" asked Zoe, as they dawdled slowly up the hill towards home.

Tom shook his head.

"We deffo won't tell Hal – it'll only stress 'im more'n what he's used to. Next time I get Alex on 'er own tho' I'll tell 'er what's goin' on."

"Alright," Zoe agreed. "sounds good – yeah, we don't want to worry Hal."

They were at the front door by now, after a tussle with the keys and a bit of pushing and giggling they went in. Hal wasn't around – Zoe sneaked upstairs to check that he was in his bedroom while Tom caught Alex in the kitchen and filled her in on what had happened. She frowned.

"Ye think that they're here for Hal?" she whispered. Tom shrugged.

"Seems funny that they'd be 'anging about otherwise. And Zoe said they never bothered with her like, until they realised what house she were comin' into."

Alex pursed her lips and paced across the kitchen to sit at the round table by the window. She picked up a coaster that had been left there and started twirling it in her hands.

"I thought that we'd taken them all out," she said worriedly, looking across at her friend.

"Aye, I'm pretty sure we did," Tom replied thoughtfully. "Must be a new bunch. They don't wanna be seen though, I reckon. Maybe they're jus' passin' through."

"What, like tourists?" snorted Alex.

"Yeah," Tom grinned, relaxing slightly. "they've probably jus' heard about Hal like, an' want ter see if they can catch a look at 'im."

"Seriously?" Alex looked incredulous. "You believe that?"

"I dunno," Tom's shoulders' slumped again. "But it's the best I've got."

The ghost tapped the coaster on the table reflectively.

"Mmm," she leant her chin on one hand and carried on tapping the coaster with the other. "Well, they've not approached us yet – I say we wait it out. It might not be anything at all."

Tom nodded, as Zoe came into the kitchen. It was all that they could do. Wait and see.

**So, there we are! What do _you_ think is going on? More soon!**


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter is a little bit longer than usual I think, sorry, couldn't find a place to split the story successfully! Little nod to the lovely ShoePigeon early on in this chapter - wonder if she will work out what it** i**s?**

**Chapter 12**

Everything settled down again in the house for another week or so. Tom transformed safely during the full moon out in the parkland again, returning home without a scratch on him the next morning. Alex and Zoe carried on their old way of communicating with the post-its – Hal was often seen pulling forgotten scraps of pink and green from the walls and doors, screwing them up with a disdainful look on his face.

One late afternoon when Zoe came home after work she found a parcel on the step by the front door, addressed to her. It wasn't a large package, the size of a loaf of bread maybe or a bit smaller – with a letter stuck on the top, written in Danny's handwriting.

Her hands were trembling as she picked up the box and she couldn't get the keys into the door – she dropped them twice before managing to get inside.

She threw her bag aside on the sofa, sat down and tore off the letter from the top, ripping the envelope into several pieces in her haste to open it.

He was alright, he wrote, and she felt tears gathering in her eyes. They had travelled across the channel and were in France, near Paris. Jack didn't seem to feed as often as Danny had thought he would need to – twice they had (Zoe skimmed quickly over that part and resumed at) – they had joined up with friends' of the older vampire's and might be heading across the border to Switzerland next. It was amazing, her brother said, and she could feel the excitement and anticipation that he had for his new life – but he hadn't forgotten her and would be back to be with her again one day. She wiped away a lone tear from her cheek.

That was it. No mention of what may be inside the parcel. Zoe gave it a small shake – a slight movement of something inside. She started to tear off the parcel tape from around the edges and then stopped. Part of the envelope was still stuck and flapping about on top of the box – the corner that had the postmark and stamp on – it was quite clearly English. Zoe read through the letter again – Danny was definitely supposed to be in France. She sat looking at the parcel, sitting innocently on the sofa next to her. It was probably nothing. He'd passed the letter to someone else to post back in this country. As you'd do – if you were a vampire heading for Switzerland. An image of the women waiting outside Honolulu Heights flitted across her mind's eye and she felt suddenly very uneasy. She picked up a biro from the arm of the sofa and carefully pushed the parcel as far away from herself as she could.

The front door opening made her jump. Tom came in – Alex must have been watching in the sitting room as well although Zoe hadn't seen any evidence of post-its, because the young man was saying "What? It's what? Where d'ya say?"

"Parcel," said the human girl flatly and pointed to it. "It's for me. It's Danny's writing."

She showed him the letter. He shrugged.

"So, wass'up with it?"

The parcel jerked up off of the sofa as Alex moved it into the kitchen – it looked funny floating through the air but Zoe couldn't find it in her to laugh. She knew, as the ghost seemed to, that there was something very wrong with that gift.

Tom looked back down at the letter.

"He don't say what's in the parcel," he stated. "You think he didn't know? Mebbe someone's tricked him into writing it, like?"

"And just stuck it on the top to trick me?" asked Zoe, pondering.

Tom nodded slowly.

"Mebbe," he tapped the letter with his finger. "I tell yer what though – we can't keep it from Hal no more. We gotta tell him bout them vampires 'n' stuff."

Zoe sat still for a moment, looking up at him, before agreeing. He was right. They had to tell Hal.

* * *

He came downstairs reluctantly – Alex had disturbed him part way through his press-ups so he was cross and sweaty, bare chested and footed. As soon as he saw their faces however he stiffened and his gaze became intent.

"Tell me," was all that he said. So they did, everything since Zoe had first seen the vampire women a couple of weeks earlier. He looked at the letter from Danny, sniffed it and studied it, but eventually handed it back.

"It's just a letter," he told the girl.

The parcel was a different matter entirely. They all traipsed out to the kitchen where Alex had placed the box on several towels on the table. She had moved the other furniture away, as if it was a bomb about to go off. It would have looked funny if they hadn't all been so worried.

"I'll open it," said Alex. "Whatever's in there can't hurt me – I'm already dead."

Hal looked at her and nodded slowly.

"Alright then, but still be careful." He came and stood next to the ghost. "Don't forget, I'm dead too."

"Och, here we go – there's a competition now as to who's the most dead out of you or me," muttered Alex, rolling her eyes.

Tom chuckled and filled Zoe in on what was happening. Alex took hold of the scissors and cut through the parcel tape, ripping the top of the box open. There was some crumpled up paper on top of whatever was in there, which Hal gingerly removed and then suddenly hissed through his teeth, pulling his hand away quickly.

"What is it?" Zoe couldn't help herself, she stepped forward. The vampire caught her arm.

"Slowly," he said. "And don't touch."

She looked into the box. Inside was a pretty silver photoframe, quite ornately decorated, the kind that you might see in an antique shop. Inside the frame – she gave a small gasp – was a photograph of her and Danny. They were grinning and holding bottles of lager – she recognised it as having been taken on the night of the fateful New Year's Eve party, where her brother had met Jack.

Then she noticed what was around the frame – it looked like tape from an old- fashioned audio cassette – it seemed as if someone had pulled out the tape from the shell and wound it over the edges of the frame and around the corners. It criss-crossed over the glass at the front as well, obscuring part of the photo. She almost moved her hand to push the tape away but before she could even process the thought properly she felt Hal's hand close hard on her's.

"Don't touch it," he repeated, and there was real urgency in his voice.

"What is it?" she whispered. Tom came closer to look inside as well. He looked inquiringly at the older man.

"It's been taped," Hal indicated the unwound cassette tape. "I've seen it before – witches or other evildoers recite spells on to tape. They record themselves and then they pull out the tape and wind it around an object belonging to the person that they want to curse."

"Curse?" asked Zoe fearfully, her eyes huge. "Does it work?"

Hal shrugged.

"Sometimes. Perhaps. If you believe in that sort of thing."

"You believe in it though," stated Zoe, peeping back into the box.

"Ah, but I'm a superstitious old vampire and we believe in many ridiculous things."

"I'll touch it then," said Tom. "I don't believe in it," and he put his hand out towards the box.

"No!" shouted Hal and Zoe together, as Alex jerked the box away. She pulled it too far though in her panic, it tilted on the edge of the table and the weight of the photoframe caused it to slip out of the box. It was next to Zoe – she went to catch it, remembered just in time and pulled her hand away. Alex tried to grab it but was too late – Hal shoved Zoe out of the way as the little frame landed on one of it's corners on the floor and the glass inside it shattered.

They all froze for what seemed like ages but was only in reality a few seconds.

"Is everybody alright?" asked Hal, looking over his shoulder at Tom and Zoe. She nodded, fascinated by the tangle of glass, tape and silver on the kitchen floor.

"Grand," said Tom, in his cheerful voice. They all burst out laughing, even Hal.

"Can you get her out of here?" he asked his friend, gesturing towards Zoe.

"Aye," and the werewolf had hoisted her up into his arms in a flash and whisked her out of the kitchen.

"What are you going to do?" called back the human girl, after being rather unceremoniously dumped at the kitchen door.

"Clean it all up," replied Hal, grimly, standing barefoot amongst all the broken glass. "Throw me the dustpan, would you please?"

She did, and he caught it deftly, crouching to sweep up the mess, being careful not to touch any of it. The broom appeared to dance in from the cupboard all by itself as Alex started to help sweep as well. Zoe left them and went to join Tom in the living room.

"So, what's it all about?" asked the ghost, looking questioningly down at Hal, as they worked together.

"I'm not sure," he swept methodically, with neat, symmetrical strokes. "It was addressed to Zoe, but why? Why would it be meant for her? It would be more logical if it were meant for one of us."

"Unless they're using her to get at us," suggested Alex, jabbing and pushing with the broom rather zealously. "You alright?" she finished, as Hal winced and shivered suddenly.

"Of course," he calmly carried on with sweeping, pausing to tip a dustpanful into the bin. "Someone walking over my grave, that's all."

Alex snorted.

"Grave, my eye – does a vampire even have a grave?"

"In ancient times –" he began.

"Spare me!" grumbled the ghost, as the vampire gave a shadowy smile and tipped the last of the photo-frame in with the rubbish.

**Quick note - I don't know if anybody else has heard of "taping" before, but it is a real phenomenon. It happened to some friends' of mine when they moved into a new area, their car was taped on several occasions. My friend's husband was a church minister, certain locals obviously didn't want them living there. So, not a very pleasant thing, but factually true.**

**Hope that you enjoyed this chapter.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Unlucky for some. Slightly shorter chapter this time, methinks. Big thanks to all of you lovelies who continue to read this story and send feedback :)**

**Chapter 13**

It was late evening. Zoe had gone upstairs to bed earlier – the others' all sensed that she was quite upset about the whole parcel business. Hal suspected that it was the photograph itself which had unsettled her the most – he had caught her looking at it in the dustbin before she had realised that he was watching.

Alex was off on a moonlit walk somewhere – she had said that she was looking for vampires but the boys' suspected that she had just skulked off into town to be nosey. Tom was whittling a new stake, sitting out in the garden – the sound of gentle whistling floated back into the house through the open back door.

Hal sat on the sofa, his domino unusually lifeless in his hand. His mind was racing as he attempted to work out who had sent the parcel and why. Why 'tape' it? Who was it intended for? Were the other vampires involved as well? It seemed likely, judging by the interest that they'd already shown in the house.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly. No point in worrying about it until they had some sort of solid evidence to go on. He stood, to go upstairs, then winced. There was a stabbing pain just below his left ankle, like in the kitchen earlier when he and Alex had been sweeping up the fragments of photo-frame.

Hal drew up his joggers and looked down at his leg. There – a tiny puncture wound, just under his ankle bone. He touched it gingerly. Sore. He could think of only one thing that could have made that wound – a splinter of glass. Resolutely he covered up the cut, went upstairs and carried on with the abandoned press-ups of earlier, pushing all other thoughts from his mind.

* * *

Hal woke suddenly in the middle of the night, sweating and fearful. He had been dreaming – a dreadful nightmare of a long ago battle, of being pinned down and of the worst, screaming pain that a person could ever imagine. He moved to sit up – his left leg felt as if a drill was being repeatedly pushed into the area just under his ankle. That must have been what brought on the dream of the long-ago army surgeon, he thought, as he carefully felt around the sore area. It looked red and inflamed and felt hot to the touch. The old vampire's sense of panic began to rise – although vastly experienced and knowledgeable about many things, if that photo-frame really had been cursed then he had absolutely no idea who to contact to get help.

He shut his eyes and breathed deeply – in through the nose, out through the mouth. He thought of an elderly man with a gentle smile, and a pretty girl in her old-fashioned dress. He remembered the barber shop and the old radiogram – his breathing slowly evened out, eventually he opened his eyes. He may not know what to do but he was going to stay in control of himself. He heard Tom's bed creak across the hall – the boy murmured in his sleep as he turned over. Hal felt a stab of fondness towards his young friend. That was another reason for him to keep control, he thought, so as not to worry the others'.

He lay down again and tried to sleep but in the morning his eyes were red and heavy, and his leg felt as if a burning poker was being run up and down between his knee and ankle.

* * *

By early afternoon he was in agony. He couldn't move his leg without wanting to scream, every time he tried to sit up he was overcome by dizziness. Sweat was literally pouring off of him – the sheets were soaked and his hair was plastered to his forehead. He felt as if his body was burning, as though he had been shut into a furnace – his throat was on fire and he felt parched.

And such strange dreams – vivid, beautiful, sometimes terrifying – faces from long ago, deeds come back to haunt him. He must have cried out at one point because he came to himself to hear Alex banging on the door, asking if he was alright.

"Fine," he rasped, his throat feeling as if it was made of razor blades.

"Eh?" asked the ghost. "Are ye okay in there?"

He cleared his throat and tried again.

"I'm fine," slightly better. "Just…"he couldn't even collect his thoughts to think up an excuse,"…doing stuff."

I sound like Tom he thought, then had to gasp into the pillow, clenching his fists, as a fierce, unnatural pain shot up his leg and through the rest of his body.

"Ohhh-kay," Alex sounded uncertain as she moved away, but he no longer paid any attention as his consciousness slipped away.

Some considerable time later Hal surfaced again – he couldn't make his eyes open at first, his head felt as if all the hammers of hell were being banged against it. Eventually he managed to force his eyelids apart but he couldn't see properly – everything was blurry. His whole body felt as if he had been run over by a steamroller, he tried to push himself up but couldn't make his arms work properly. His left ankle – oh, there were no words to describe it but supreme agony. At last he managed to stagger to his bedroom door, dragging his leg behind himself, almost sobbing with pain. He couldn't open the door – his hands were slick with sweat and he couldn't see – he tried to claw at the frame with his fingernails. Amazingly, wondrously it was opened, but not by him – Tom stood there, his face registering absolute shock when he saw the state of the vampire. Hal, staggering in pain, bowed to the inevitable – he fell into the arms of his friend and passed out completely.

**So…do you believe in curses? It seems that Hal does :(**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you to you guys who STILL follow my story! You are ACE! Bit delayed putting up this chapter, sorry, next one will go up tonight or tomorrow though to make up for it.**

**Chapter 14**

Instant pandemonium. Tom sunk back against the wall under the weight of the vampire, carefully kneeling down and still holding the comatose Hal gently in his arms. He was yelling, shouting for the girls – Alex was there almost instantly, her face appalled when she saw the condition that the vampire was in.

"What's wrong wi' him?" she whispered, taking his hot, damp hand in her own and gently touching his face.

"I dunno," Tom shook his head, worried, as Zoe pounded up the stairs with the teatowel still in her hand. Her face paled when she saw Hal, outstretched on the floor, oblivious to them all. She crouched beside the others and laid her fingers against his forehead.

"He's got a really high temperature," she said, surprised. "Can that happen to vampires? Is it possible for them to become ill?"

"I dunno," repeated Tom. "But I don't think so. They ain't alive, like, so they shouldn't be able to get ill."

"So how come that he _is_ ill then?" asked Alex, and Zoe said almost the same words at the same time, so he answered them both, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Ain't no idea." He looked down as Hal moved slightly, turning his head against Tom. "But we need to get him into bed."

"And do something about that temperature," muttered Zoe, getting up from her knees.

* * *

Alex and zoe changed the sheets on Hal's bed before they would allow him to be delivered back onto it. He roused a little as they moved him – the girls' were able to support his body while Tom slid out from underneath before taking his friend's arm across his shoulder. It was only when Hal tried to walk and sobbed openly at the attempt that the others' realised it was his leg that was the problem. Tom ended up mostly dragging him towards the bed – when Alex went to lift his legs' up he fainted dead away once more.

"Move 'im nah, while he's out cold," instructed Tom, as the girls' yanked the poor vampire as hard and as quickly as they could into a vaguely comfortable positon on the mattress.

Zoe would have laughed perhaps, if she hadn't felt so afraid. She could only see herself moving Hal – at one point his arms looked as if they were suspended in mid-air where the ghost, unseen by the human, was supporting him. She knelt by the bed, stroking the damp, matted hair off of his forehead, stupidly feeling for a pulse before remembering that he didn't have one.

"Look 'ere," Tom had pulled up the leg of Hal's pyjamas, to reveal his swollen, bright red, lower left leg.

"What on earth…?" Zoe moved closer, horrified. "What's happened to him?"

Tom didn't answer, just touched the area carefully – even so the vampire cried out in his dreams and clutched wildly for something to catch hold of. Zoe gave him her hand, which he squeezed mercilessly and pulled in close against his face. He held it so tightly that it brought tears to her eyes until eventually his grip lessened and he drifted away into unconsciousness again.

"We need to get that temperature down," said Zoe firmly, massaging her hand to try and get some feeling back into it.

"Aye." Tom stood up. "Ice. Tepid water. And whatever we got in the medicine cupboard."

* * *

All through the night the three of them battled to try and bring down Hal's temperature, and give him some relief. Tom had raided the frozen vegetables from the freezer which they packed around the vampire, and the girls' sponged him down intermittently with tepid water. This seemed to make him feel slightly more comfortable at least. He even opened his eyes once and whispered a small "thank you" to Alex, who was wiping his wringing wet hair away from his face. She smiled and pinched his cheek gently, but before she could say anything he had closed his eyes and drifted away again.

As morning crept closer they had to take the vegetables away to refreeze them. Tom, alone in the room with his friend, looked carefully at Hal's leg again. The crimson rash had spread to above his knee now and the young werewolf guessed that the pain must be excruciating. He leant closer, studying the skin, looking for anything, anything at all. At first he saw nothing but then, on the most painfully sore, ruby-reddest area, right in the centre – what looked like a tiny pinprick spot of blood.

He glanced towards his friend's face. This was going to hurt. He positioned his fingers over the little bloody spot, gritted his teeth, and pushed.

Hal's back arched as he cried out in absolute agony, hands tangled in the bedsheets. He convulsed again, his eyes wide with pain, lips drawn back against his teeth. His body lurched once more as Tom, alarmed, reached for his friend. The vampire turned onto his right side, as far as he could, and threw up all over the side of the bed, his abdominal muscles spasming repeatedly until his guts emptied. Alex, back from downstairs, put her arms around him, tears unexpectedly pricking at her eyes. She laid her cool cheek against his hot forehead as he sank back exhausted onto the bed.

"What are we going to do, Tom?" asked the ghost, hopelessly.

Tom looked grim.

"I dunno," he rubbed his hands over his face. "I just don't know."

* * *

The girls' had very carefully moved the soiled sheet out from underneath Hal – they didn't want to touch his leg again so Tom had gone to find one of his knives and simply cut the sheet away, intending to deposit it in the rubbish bin. As he went to lift it in he saw the tangle of glass and tape that had been the photo-frame. He paused, went to put the sheet inside, then paused again. He looked back down into the dustbin.

"Gotcha," he whispered.

* * *

Alex had taken her jacket off and with a fair bit of persuasion had consented to actually lie on the bed next to Hal with as much of her cool body touching him as was possible. It was an attempt to bring down his temperature which had begun to climb hideously high again.

"Buzz off and don't ye be looking though," she had said to the others, so they had buzzed off into Tom's room where they were both sprawled on the double bed, listlessly watching the TV. The young werewolf's mind was whirling like a mad thing. The photo-frame, the glass, the tape. The curse.

"Do you believe in curses?" he blurted out suddenly.

Zoe blushed slightly, before answering.

"No. No, I don't."

"What yer gone red for?" asked Tom.

She turned an even rosier hue and ignored him.

"Zoe?" he sat forward, looking intently at her. She stood up and moved away.

"I believe that a curse only works if you believe in it," she stated. "Like in the old days with witchdoctors and soothsayers and that kind of stuff. People like that had real power – if they cursed you and you believed it then that was it. But if you didn't believe it then nothing would happen. It's all in the mind."

"What on earth…?" she added, as Tom leapt off of the bed, grabbed her and whirled her around.

"You've got it!" he grinned excitedly. "A curse only works if you believe in it. Now, say yer was a daft old vampire who DID believe in that sort of thing? You was born so long ago that even though yer lived in our modern world yer still carried a bit o' that old superstition wiv yer. Even if mebbe you wouldn't admit it to yourself."

"So, you mean, he thinks that he's cursed?" said Zoe, slowly.

"Yes!" Tom rubbed his hands together. "The photo-frame…"

"But he didn't touch it," protested the girl.

"No, not intentionally, but what if he cut hisself when he were sweeping up and never told no-one? He'd think he was caught by the curse, mebbe."

"That's silly…"Zoe started to say, but then remembered Hal saying something as they'd all stood looking at the photo-frame. Something about superstitious old vampires believing in ridiculous things.

"Crikey, I think that you're right!" she said excitedly. "Even if consciously he wouldn't believe in curses, subconsciously his old, middle-ages, medieval self does! But what are we going to do about it?"

"Prove it's not real somehow." Tom's shoulders had dropped slightly. "I dunno how though."

Zoe paused, blushing again.

"I think that I do," she said.

* * *

Zoe slipped back into Tom's room just a few minutes later, a curious look on her face. Tom said nothing, just raised his eyebrows. She was holding something behind her back, as he watched her she blushed again, her eyes suddenly full of tears.

"It's this," she said simply and held out the photograph that had been in the frame.

"Yer took it?" the werewolf asked, surprised. "I thought it were in the bin – I saw it there."

She nodded sadly.

"I came downstairs after you were all in bed. I was only going to look at it but" she glanced at the photo, rather crumpled now after it's visit to the dustbin "I took it. It's the last time that Danny and me were…proper."

She finished on a sob. Tom stood up and gently took the photo out of her hand, putting his arm around his friend and squeezing her briefly.

"And you bin alright, ain't ya? Not feeling ill or owt? Not like him?"

Zoe shook her head.

"I feel fine. Apart from worrying about Hal. And now you've touched it too."

"Well, I feel fine," agreed Tom. He ran his hands over the picture, turned it back and forth, looked closely at the laughing boy and girl. "It's just a photo. We were right. Curses ain't real."

He patted Zoe hard on the shoulder.

"C'mon. Let's finish this nonsense."

**Phew! Everyone still got their fingernails? More soon!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Massive thanks to everyone who's continuing to read this story, especially camillavirgil, shoepigeon and opositiv who never fail to amaze me with their wonderful reviews! This chapter is for you ladies. :))**

**Chapter 15**

Alex was almost completely wrapped around Hal as Tom entered the bedroom. She'd taken her boots off as well and draped her leg across him, being very careful not to touch the sore area. Her arm was across his bare chest and the palm of her hand against his cheek – he lay with his face turned towards her, pale and unmoving. The ghost turned as the other two came in, leaning up on her elbow and looking at them questioningly.

"Is he awake?" asked Tom quietly.

She shook her head.

"He's not moved since I came in," she said, looking back down at the man lying so still on the bed.

"Shift over a bit then," said Tom, kneeling on the other side of the bed, as Alex moved over and sat up.

"Hal." The young man tapped his friend gently on the shoulder. He tapped again, firmer, then once more and gave the vampire a small shake. Hal groaned and turned his head.

"Hal!" Tom spoke again, louder. The older man's eyes fluttered – he was trying to open them. Zoe handed over a wet flannel from the wash bowl so that Tom could gently wipe his friend's forehead. The vampire's eyes flickered open, unfocussed, after several long moments he fixed them slowly on the young man's face.

"Look mate," Tom held up the photograph. Hal didn't move but his eyes slid over to the picture. The pupils' widened perceptibly.

"Mate," Tom repeated," it ain't cursed. Look – I'm touching it. Zoe's touched it – she pulled it outta the dustbin." He rubbed his hands across the front of the photo.

"It's alright, it can't hurt ya." He took one of the vampire's poor, hot hands' in his own. "Touch it."

Hal pulled his hand away.

"No." His voice was like a feather, so soft that they could barely hear him. Zoe crept closer.

"Curses aren't real," she whispered, touching his face, very gently. He didn't look at her, he couldn't summon up the energy to even turn his head. "Please…please Hal."

Her voice broke and she couldn't go on. She tried to swallow the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat. The vampire's eyes had fluttered closed again. She leant her head against his arm – when he spoke it was so quiet that she thought she'd dreamt it.

"Not cursed?" he murmured. "But my leg…" His voice trailed away.

"It's cos you believe it mate," Tom had sat on the bed beside his friend. He held the photograph close to Hal's chest – he only had to lift his hand to touch it. "C'mon, mate – yer know it's crap. Yer know it ain't real – you're stronger than that, you're bigger 'n' better. Curses ain't true – you're clever, cleverest of us all – you can work it out."

He paused. Hal made a huge effort and opened his eyes again. Sweat was beading on his forehead and the sheets were soaked through. He looked into Tom's eyes.

"You don't believe in it?" A tiny whisper, soft as a bird's fluttering wing.

"Touching it, ain't I?" The werewolf ran his hands across the photo again. Zoe put her hand out and touched it too. Alex gingerly patted it for the first time, then gripped it more strongly as, indeed, nothing happened.

Hal shut his eyes again – he just didn't have the energy to keep them open for long. Slowly however, he opened his right hand where it lay curled on his chest. A huge leap of faith for an old, brave, superstitious vampire. Gently, very gently, Tom touched the edge of the photograph against his friend's fingers. Hal's hand twitched away at first, then carefully but surely he took the edge of the picture between his forefinger and thumb. Again he struggled to open his eyes – they were sore and red-rimmed as he gazed at the photo of the smiling brother and sister.

He didn't say anything for a few moments, then slowly his hand lowered and the photo dropped onto this chest.. Nobody moved. The vampire was changing, evolving almost in front of their eyes – nobody even dared to breathe too loudly.

There was one more thing however – Hal was almost too exhausted to put it into words but Tom understood, understood the quirks and gliches of his friend's personality. He sat patiently on the bed, waiting for him to speak. Hal couldn't find any spare energy to open his eyes again, they felt as if they were glued shut, but he could just about locate his voice, so quiet now that Zoe missed completely what he said, from her position on the other side of the bed.

"Cut it out," he said, and Tom squeezed his hand in affirmation. "Cut it out Tom."

* * *

Tom and Zoe knelt near the bottom of the bed, close to Hal's hideously scarlet and sore left leg. They had put clean towels as close to him as they could without touching it and Tom had sterilised two of his hunting knives and laid them on top of a clean napkin. Zoe had mixed a solution of salt and water – she didn't know if vampires' needed anything to help with the healing of wounds but she wasn't taking any chances. Alex was sat close by Hal's chest on the other side, positioned so that he could squeeze and squash her hands once the other two started their business down at the other end of the bed.

"It won't hurt me as much as it'll hurt you," she had said to Zoe, via Tom. The ghost squeezed the other girl's shoulder, Zoe felt the cold pinching against her and smiled. She wished that she could see Alex.

Tom puffed out his cheeks as he exhaled a deep breath.

"Ready?" he looked at Zoe. She put her thumbs up."Alex?"

"Aye."

Tom picked up the smaller and sharper of his knives – a wicked looking little blade that shone brightly in the sunlight. He gripped it tightly, adjusted his position and then plunged it deeply into the vampire's leg.

Hal's voice cracked as he tried to scream out in pain – at the same time a spurt of blood hit Zoe squarely in the face, right in her eyes and across her cheeks. She wiped it away as best as she could, blinking furiously to try and clear it so that she could see.

Tom was totally focussed on what he was doing, methodically he cut deeper into the flesh above Hal's ankle, ignoring the man writhing in agony on the bed. The quicker that he could dig out that splinter of glass, the quicker it would all be over. Zoe shifted her weight against the vampire's leg to try and keep it as still as possible for Tom. She wiped more of the blood from her face onto the edge of the bedsheet and leant in close to the wound.

"Can you see it?" she whispered.

Tom shook his head.

"Not yet, but wait a minute." The werewolf had his finger inside the wound now, digging around with his nail as blood ran freely out onto the bed and the stricken vampire held onto Alex with all his strength, rasping one shuddering breath after another.

"Be careful," said Zoe, suddenly. "You don't want to end up with that bit of glass in your finger instead of in him."

Tom grinned fleetingly.

"Don't matter, we don't believe in curses."

"True." The girl paused. "But don't risk it."

"We're not curing the two of ye," added Alex grimly, from the top of the bed.

"Got it!" The young man grabbed his knife again and pushed the tip of the blade back into the wound. Hal tried to sit up but his ghostly friend hung onto him tightly – he was so weak that he couldn't fight against her. Tom wriggled the knife a little and then drew it out – there on the tip was a tiny shard of blackened glass.

"Why is it black?" asked Zoe wonderingly.

"Dunno." Tom shrugged. "Maybe cos vampires' blood's different to ours. Affected it somehow, like."

"You don't think," Zoe didn't know how to say it. "You don't think that it really was cursed?" She finished on a whisper.

"No I don't." stated Tom firmly.

Zoe squeezed his arm.

"Me neither."

The young man was feeling around the wound again, but the glass was all out now. Alex stroked Hal's hair away from his eyes again – he lay unmoving on the bed, tangled up in the bloody sheets.

"Hey," she whispered, rubbing his hand gently where it lay limply against his abdomen. "Hey, gorgeous – can you hear me?"

He didn't move – she squeezed his hand again, worried, until she noticed the gentle rise and fall of his chest.

"He's awright," said Tom."Look, it's healing already." Sure enough the crimson inflammation was already fading away, even the cut from the knife had begun to knit together.

"That's amazing!" murmured Zoe. "If I hadn't seen it.."

"Yer wouldn't 'ave believed it," finished Tom, grinning. He felt elated, overjoyed. He didn't know what he would have done if anything had happened to Hal. "How's his temperature now?"

Zoe laid her hand against the vampire's forehead.

"His fever's gone," she said amazed. "It's broken already – he really is healed."

She wiped her eyes surreptitiously as they suddenly filled with tears of relief. It was over.

* * *

Hal barely moved as they rolled him about in the bed, attempting to change the bloody and soaked sheets underneath him. He roused once, when they changed the pillows – leaning against Tom he smiled weakly as Zoe handed him the photograph to look after. By the time they laid him down again he was fast asleep, a healthy, healing sleep.

It was well into the afternoon before the human and the werewolf went to bed. Alex took charge of the sick room and told them sternly to go and lie down before they fell down. Tom put up a token resistance before wandering off and dropping asleep almost as soon as he fell onto the bed. Zoe had gone immediately, she felt exhausted now that she knew Hal would be alright. She could barely stand up, her eyes stung with tiredness and she was asleep not long after Tom – being a girl she at least managed to crawl into her nightclothes first.

Alex sat quietly, unusal for the naturally active and fidgety ghost, watching over the now peaceful house. Hal had turned onto his side, pain-free at last, his hand tucked under his cheek. She smiled, shifted slightly in her chair, picked up a magazine and began to read.

* * *

**There we are then! End of part two! You know that Tom would save the day though, right? :)** **Hope that nobody thought I was too hard on poor Hal - it all came right in the end.**

**Part three starting soon - if you can bear any more of this story! There's still quite a long way to go!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Big thank you's to everyone who's sticking with this story, whether you are commenting or not. Thank you to Amy the Guest who doesn't have an account for me to reply to - glad that you're enjoying my little tale! :)**

**Chapter 16**

The so-called curse, whether real or not, had really taken it's toll on Hal. All he could find the energy for doing over the next two or three days was to lie in his bed drifting in and out of sleep. Alex or Tom came in every now and then to make him drink something or eat something or to check if he needed anything. The photograph of Danny and Zoe lay on his bedside table – every so often he would reach over and touch it, wondering how such a silly little thing could have held such power over an Old One as strong as himself.

Once Hal pushed himself up in bed and looked at his left leg where the glass had gone in – it looked completely normal now. He shook his head at his own stupidity.

"You are a foolish, old, medieval idiot," he told himself. The aftermath of the 'curse' had really made him think about the power of the mind and the strength of superstition. The vampire really had began to change on the day that he had touched the photograph – his faith in some of the "ridiculous things" from his colourful past had now been broken.

New perspectives, he murmured softly to himself as he dropped off to sleep again.

Hal awoke in the early evening – the smell of sausages or something similar was wafting it's way up from downstairs and for the first time since his illness he felt the stirrings of hunger. He sat up on the edge of the bed – his head swam a little but otherwise he felt relatively normal.

Trying to get dressed was another matter entirely – by the time he'd dragged himself around his bedroom locating his clothes, and then struggled to slowly, slowly put them on, he needed to lie down again, exhausted.

There was a knock at the door and Tom's cheerful face peeped into the room.

"Eh, yer got dressed then?" He came in as Hal forced himself to sit up again. "How yer feelin' now?"

He crouched next to the bed, now that the vampire was feeling better creasing his bedclothes by sitting on them was not the way to keep in his friend's good books.

"As if someone has picked me up and repeatedly smashed me against a brick wall." Hal pressed his fingers against his temples. "Thank you for asking."

Tom grinned. His friend was definitely back and feeling more like himself.

"Alex says do yer want some sausages? There's mashed spuds 'n' all wi' gravy." He leant closer to his friend. "Gravy's a bit lumpy but I'll make sure an' put yours through a sieve 'fore I bring it up."

Hal ghosted a tiny smile.

"Perhaps I should come down?" he suggested, not sure if he actually had the energy to make it as far as the kitchen.

"Er…" Tom's expression changed subtly, almost imperceptibly. "Yer probably should, like, just rest for a day or two more, y'know. Specially if you're still feeling a bit rough."

"Or perhaps a change of air would do me good?" Hal studied his friend closely as he spoke. Was something wrong?

"Well, it's evening now, so…" Tom was floundering a bit, "…so start afresh tomorrow, eh? Plus you've hardly ate 'owt since yer bin ill. Get some of yer stamina back, eh?"

He punched the vampire's arm playfully, but didn't quite make eye contact. There was a pause.

"Very well," Hal decided to play along. "I look forward to the lumpy gravy."

"Good man!" Tom jumped to his feet and made for the door.

"Where's Zoe?" the older man called after him.

"She's downstairs, o'course." Again, as the boy glanced back, something different, foreign in his gaze. He _was_ covering something up.

"Only, I haven't seen her in the last couple of days." Hal waited.

"You bin sleepin' mate – yer must 'ave just missed her, that's all. See yer!" Tom finished with forced cheerfulness, and shut the door quickly behind himself.

The vampire sat still, listening to the sounds of the household, straining to hear something, anything. What was going on downstairs? Probably nothing – it must be his imagination.

He leant back on his pillows, his head feeling rather fuzzy again, and closed his eyes. It was just the after effects of the curse no doubt, making him feel edgy and nervous. He lay there, still listening – with his enhanced vampire hearing he could pick up almost everything that they were saying, far away in the kitchen. Yes, Zoe was there – he heard her call something to Tom, sounding fine. The werewolf answered, something about haggis, and they both laughed.

A pause. Another bout of chatter from the kitchen – a question about pudding from Alex, followed by an answer. Hal's eyes snapped open. He was on to them.

* * *

Despite his best intentions, he fell asleep again after the sausages and mash – he'd managed to plough his way through about half of the meal before pushing it aside.

I'll take it down in a minute, he thought to himself, then he'd stretched out across the bed, turned onto his side and dropped off almost immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep. When he opened his eyes again it was morning.

Hal washed and dressed slowly – he even found the energy for a few press ups, and to set his dominoes up and down. Eventually he heard movement around the rest of the house – he gave them all time to get downstairs and then slowly, carefully went below himself.

Tom and Zoe were at the table in the kitchen, Alex leaning against the sink. They had heard him coming, he realised, nobody was speaking and yes, he was certain – all three of them looked positively shifty.

"Morning," chirruped Alex, exuding fake cheerfulness. "Cup of tea?"

"Yes please." Hal lowered himself into one of the other dining chairs. "Good morning Tom, good morning Zoe."

"Mornin' mate," Tom's brightness had a brittle edge to it. "How yer feelin'?"

"Much improved, thank you." The vampire looked across the table at Zoe, fixing her with his brooding stare. She had flushed scarlet, flicking a swift glance up at him she mumbled something that even his accomplished ears' couldn't translate into English.

"I'm sorry?" he leant forward, inquiringly.

"Howeryou?" she gabbled, putting a spoonful of cereal into her mouth and trying to stand up at the same time.

Hal didn't answer. Apart from red faces and a mild undertone of panic the three of them weren't giving anything away. He didn't like it but he would have to trick them.

Zoe was at the sink with her back to them all. Tom was studiously shovelling eggs and bacon into his mouth.

"Alex, would you mind bringing my single domino downstairs?" he asked politely. "I'm sorry to bother you but I don't believe that I have the energy to go upstairs again just now."

Well, that part was true, he thought to himself.

"Aye, no problem," answered the ghost, on her best behaviour. Most unlike her too. In an instant she had rentaghosted out of the room. How long would it take her to find it, he wondered. He knew that he'd left it on the bedside table.

"Zoe?" he asked." Could I please have a knife and plate?"

Wordlessly she turned to him with a clean knife in her hand – in the same instant Alex reappeared between them, back from upstairs.

"Crap!" yelled Zoe, and jumped spectacularly about a foot into the air, dropping the knife which clattered noisily onto the floor. She realised almost immediately what she'd done.

Absolute silence. Tom was sat with a forkful of bacon and egg almost in his mouth, unmoving. Zoe was silent too, head down, hands clasped together. Alex looked from Hal to Zoe and back again. Wordlessly she handed him the domino – he took it without a sound. The ghost moved next to the human girl and put her arm around her shoulders. Tom lowered his fork. Hal twisted his domino between his fingers. He took a deep breath, and looked across at the girls. Alex was giving him one of her 'speaking' looks. Zoe wasn't looking at him at all.

"Does anybody," he began, "anybody here wish to tell me why Zoe can now apparently see Alex?"

**So, in the words of Adam Jacobs "what do you think of that?" ;)) More soon!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Thank you for all the feed back that I've had for this story! So glad people are enjoying it! Special thanks to Camillavirgil, Rideawhitehorse and MancVamp for their feedback on the last couple of chapters :))**

**Chapter 17**

It was about an hour later and Zoe was sat on her own in the garden of Honolulu Heights. Tom had slunk off to work and Alex and Hal were somewhere indoors, arguing with each other. She supposed that they should be glad really – all the shouting meant that the vampire was on the mend. And boy, had he shouted at them!

Selfish, thoughtless, ignorant, idiots, morons, sly, deceitful – oh, he'd really let rip. About ten seconds into the outburst Alex had started yelling back at him, Tom had stuck his two-penn'orth in as well and Zoe had sneaked off to the garden to hide amongst the flower pots and hanging baskets.

She didn't know the mechanics of how it was that she could now see and hear the ghost. She still couldn't feel her, although she could feel it much more strongly if Alex touched _her. _Zoe had woken up on the day after they had managed to cure Hal, gone downstairs and stopped abruptly on the kitchen threshold. Tom was there, with a tall, beautiful, vivacious Scottish girl – completely unable to speak she had stood there with her mouth hanging open until the others' not only realised that she was there but more importantly, that there was something very, very wrong.

They'd sat her down in a chair, and fed her tea and toast and all three of them had become rather excited and then, rather fearful.

"What if it's the curse?" Zoe had said. Alex pinched her hard enough for it to hurt.

"There ain't no curse," Tom had replied, patting her hand. "Ye know it."

Zoe had thought pensively for a while, then she'd nodded. He was right, of course.

"What is it then?" she had looked expectantly at the other two. "How? How has it happened?"

"Did you feel awright last night?" the werewolf had enquired.

"Fine," she'd shrugged. "And I feel fine now."

"Well – I ain't got a clue," Tom had brushed his hands over his cropped head, which he often did when he was worried. "Only thing to do is ask Hal."

"No chance!" Zoe had shaken her head vigourously. "Number one, he needs to get well again without any extra worries. Number two – he'll shout. Loudly. I'm sure it must be my fault, whatever's happened."

"He'll have to know sooner or later," Alex had told them. They'd all agreed on that – yes he would have to know sooner or later. Zoe would rather it was at a time of her own chosing though, when she could have planned out exactly what she wanted to say. Preferably with cue cards.

But that hadn't happened. She didn't know how he had caught them, but caught them he most certainly had. They ought to have known that they could never have outsmarted a vampire of his knowledge and experience. So now she was hiding in the garden while all hell was breaking loose indoors. She suspected that both Hal and Alex were secretly enjoying themselves – the ghost in particular loved a good argument and had been seriously reigning herself in over the last few days, what with Hal's illness and recuperation. Zoe wondered if they'd notice if she sneaked off to the café for a while – Tom had stomped off halfway through the argument, he must be down there by now. She was about to take her chances and leg it out of the back gate when she stiffened slightly and remained huddled in her deckchair.

Hal was stood in the doorway – she couldn't see him as he was directly behind her, but she knew that it was him. She could smell the clean, fresh scent of him, stronger than ever before. She could hear the domino twirling almost silently in his hand. There was something else – she could sense his presence, an almost tangible essence. A completely new feeling, like nothing that she had ever felt before. All the time he'd been upstairs recovering she had constantly felt his –what was it, an aura? She could hear whenever he moved, she sensed every deep breath that he took. Every murmur from his lips slipped somehow into her mind, although she was too far away to physically hear him. Zoe hadn't told the other two all these things, that really would worry them. How could she even begin to explain it to them? To him?

* * *

Hal thought that he had a fair idea of what must have happened. In the middle of all the shouting, after he'd demanded to know **exactly** what had been going on during the time that he'd been ill, Tom had mentioned the part where he had cut the glass out of his leg. When he told him about the spurt of blood that had hit Zoe squarely in the face Hal's interest had been immediately caught.

Something in the back of his mind, a memory from long ago – not too long after he'd been recruited. He needed to think, to ponder, to take his mind back step by step – putting the jigsaw puzzle together. Eventually he'd managed to stop Alex yelling, she'd looked remarkably cheerful afterwards – she's not had a decent argument in days he realised, in secret admiration.

Now he stood at the door, watching the chair that his prey was hiding in. While he had been convalescing upstairs he had become aware that Zoe's pulse seemed to be even louder, more synchronised with his own. A shot of electricity sparked through him every time that he concentrated on her heartbeat, a small spurt of adrenaline. He reflected again on the last couple of days – had he dreamt of her too? He thought that probably he had. He could feel it now, an invisible, tensile bond – a strange feeling of heightened awareness, a muddle of jumbled emotions and the compulsion to protect. Yes, that was it, protection. He knew what had happened. The domino tile twirled and danced in his hand. He waited.

After a few minutes a small voice came from the depths of the chair.

"I know that you're in the doorway there," said Zoe. " You might as well come and shout at me and get it over with."

Hal smiled his lopsided smile and crossed the garden, when he sat carefully in a chair close by he didn't even seem to be angry. Zoe frowned slightly, intrigued.

"What's the matter with me?" she asked.

The vampire held up his hand briefly, pausing.

"Wait," he whispered. "Just for a moment."

Zoe waited. The Old One closed his eyes, thinking back over the centuries, drawing together all the threads. Remembering an incident far away, and long, long ago.

"Very well." Almost as though he were speaking to himself. A small sigh, the dark eyes opened and he began to speak.

**Next chapter should be up tomorrow. Are you ready to hear Hal's story? ;)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Firstly, I would like to say that I thought I was being really clever when I "invented" the phenomenon that I describe in this chapter. Before Being Human the only vampires I had met were Anne Rice's lot, and long ago, Dracula. Well, it turns out that Bram Stoker, bless him, got there before me, and all I've done is re-invent the wheel, to some extent. Silly Brookesey. I think my take on it is slightly different perhaps, anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter.**

**Chapter 18**

"I have only heard of this happening twice before. Others may also have come across it in their roamings across the earth, I cannot say. It is a rare phenomenon." He paused and looked at Zoe with a new expression in his eyes, almost wonderment, she thought.

Several long seconds of stillness.

"Go on," said the girl.

Hal turned away slightly, looking out over the back gardens of the neighbourhood. His eyes were unfocused, his thoughts back with his friends' of long ago.

"I was still quite young, eighty or so," a small smirk escaped him, "and we were running amok through Eastern Europe. A friend and I, Sebastian, ended up in a village somewhere in Romania of all places. It was a tiny village, just a few houses. We intended to just slip through, take one human, but…" he paused again, inwardly struggling with the other being inside himself. "…well, one night of…we had killed them all."

Silence again. Zoe neither spoke nor moved. The vampire cleared his throat and went on.

"In the morning we decided to bury them, not out of any remorse but more to hide the evidence of what we'd been up to. And there, from the muddle of corpses as Seb reached out – a young boy leapt forward, screaming and fighting. He jumped upon my friend, hitting and kicking him, then used a classic child's fighting ploy – he bit him." Hal chuckled. "Hard! On his ear – it was the only place that the boy could reach. He was like a terrier, hanging on to poor Seb's ear with his teeth, vampire blood everywhere…anyway, I managed to knock him off onto the ground. As he fell he struck his head and rendered himself unconscious. So we carried on with digging the graves, fell asleep for a few hours, and when we awoke there he was. Just sitting at Sebastian's feet."

Hal paused again. He was far away in the past as he spoke. A tall blonde man, a tiny, filthy urchin. Another world. Another Hal.

Gradually he came back to the present time. He rubbed his hand across his eyes' briefly then carried on.

"I went to take him, to feed from him but Seb stopped me – he dragged me away from him and almost threw me to the floor. Something had manifested itself between the two of them - a bond of some kind, an invisible, unbreakable thread. My friend was beside himself at first – how could he be protecting the child? How could he find himself pitted against me? I could see it in his face – he would have tried to rip me apart if I'd hurt the boy. We were in shock." Hal glanced at Zoe with a small cynical smile. "We thought it was witchcraft."

She chuckled softly. "Something's don't change then."

"Eventually the boy confessed to having swallowed a mouthful of blood from Sebastian's ear when he had bitten him. We decided that that was the only feasible explanation. Somehow the vampire's blood had inexplicably bonded the two beings together. Later on I met another, a woman, who loved a creature like me. They had heard of this strange phenomenon as well and he had deliberately given her a small ammount of his blood to drink, so that they could make that indelible bond. He called it 'marking'. It marked her as his, to all other vampires. It protected her too – a 'marked' human was not as palatable, shall we say, as a normal one. She carried the essence of her lover with her. Once, they told me, another of our kind had tried to take the woman, to feed from her. He was unable to though – his strength fell away from him as he touched her, and he was overcome with blindness. Her lover was able to kill him easily."

"But…but…" Zoe was sat forward in her deckchair. "I haven't drunk any of your blood!" She felt horrified and indignant at the same time. "I promise you, while you were out of it I did **NOT **drink any of your blood! Eugh!"

Hal smiled his lopsided smile again. Twice in one day.

"Tom said that some of my blood splashed in your face."

"I didn't drink…" she began to shriek, but he cut in.

"It went into your eyes. He said that you had to wipe the blood out of your eyes."

Zoe paused. Yes – a spurt of red directly into her right eye, spattering across her face and into the left one.

"How could that…?"the question was left unanswered. Hal was silent for a moment.

"Some viruses can be transferred across the cornea – the membrane of the eye. Some drugs can be given like that too – one of the glaucoma medications is particularly beneficial when administered that way," he finished knowledgeably.

"And you think…"Zoe couldn't quite form whole sentences at the moment.

"I do." The vampire suddenly looked across at her, intently. "You feel that change too, I believe, the same as I do. Strange, enhanced senses – a constant awareness of each other when we are close by. Feeling someone else's emotions."

His speech was clipped. He sounded angry. Zoe's voice was almost inaudible.

"I could hear you breathing," was all that she said.

Hal sighed. Unexpectedly he came and sat next to her. Slowly, hesitantly, he took her hand in his. How small it was he thought.

"It's not all…." He struggled for the right word. Nothing sprang to mind. Eventually he settled for. "…twattage."

Another smile. One of Annie's more choice expressions.

"My instinct to protect you is increased. Even though you are human and I am… not. I believe that my desire to – er – terminate your existence has already decreased. Although in one sense it may be more difficult, bothersome, for us, it will certainly be to your benefit in the long run."

Silence. Zoe was looking at their touching hands, thinking of another vampire, her brother. If what Hal said was true then it would help both her and Danny. If he ever comes back, she thought sadly. She looked up into a pair of dark, glowing eyes.

"I'll go with that," she said.

* * *

They returned to the kitchen, and a very interested Alex who had clearly been agog to know what was going on in the garden. Hal retold his strange story, adding that in both cases the marked humans had been able to see and hear ghosts. He didn't know anything more about the woman and the vampire but Sebastian's little protégé, who's name was Luka, had also lived considerably longer than his contemporaries – he had died not long after his one hundred and eighty sixth birthday! Even Alex was speechless after that little nugget.

"So, not all bad then?" she beamed cheerfully, when her voice came back.

Zoe shook her head, still not quite able to take it all in.

"Cool." Was about all that she could come up with.

"Come on." Hal felt the turmoil, good though it was, spinning about inside the human girl. Of course he did, he would always feel it now. "I'll walk you down to the café, you can sit with Tom for a while. He'll set you to rights again."

So he took her off and came back alone, back to the peace of Radio 4 and his classical literature collection. Down in the town, in the Café on the Corner, Tom was busy – cleaning, cooking and laughing, chatting in his friendly way and indeed, setting Zoe right again.

* * *

"Do you know that you can drink vodka through your eye sockets?" said Alex as she sat on the couch that evening, reading avidly from the laptop.

"You cannot drink through your eye sockets," stated Hal brusquely, busy setting up his dominoes on the table.

"Ye know what I mean." The ghost stuck her tongue out at his back and carried on. "Ye pour a shot of vodka into your eye instead of drinking it, and you're pissed as a fart in no time at all! It can make ye go blind though."

"Then let us be thankful that none of us have ever tried it," retorted the old vampire.

Zoe smiled. Tom came wandering into the sitting room from upstairs and sprawled on the sofa beside her. A comfortable silence ensued for a few minutes before Tom piped up with "We still don't know what them other vampires wanted, do we?"

They all turned to look at him.

"I mean, was it them what sent the parcel? An' was it them who tried to curse - well, we dunno really who they did try to curse like, do we? And what did they want?" he asked again.

For some reason they all looked at Hal. Unconsciously perhaps, they viewed him as head of the household now. He was thinking.

"I don't think that any of us can guess what it is that they wanted, or indeed still want." He gently tapped one of his dominoes on the table top. "I believe, yes, I would say that it is likely that they sent the parcel. For what reason we are yet to discover. They would believe without question that the curse would work, regardless of whoever touched it. Superstition."

He looked away at his dominoes. Alex smiled at him gently.

"Lucky that you don't believe in any of that old crap then."

He gave her a sideways glance. "It is indeed, Alex."

Tom gave a shout of laughter. Zoe elbowed him.

"Anyway, the ball is most definitely in their court now." The vampire took a domino and stood it up, straight and neat, next to it's brothers. He grinned. " I await our next encounter with relish."

* * *

**End of Part Two! Yes, there's still more! If you think you can bear it :)**

**When I was a nurse I was aware of certain medications that could be administered across the cornea, when I researched it again for this chapter I also came across the vodka article. You can google it if you're interested, like Alex!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Okay, this chapter is specially for Rideawhitehorse for giving me extra enlightenment into 'taping' and for just being generally splendid! Massive thank-you's to all of you who have given me such positve feedback, I'm so glad that you're all enjoying the story. **

**Here comes Part Three! I have to apologise - this chapter is rather longer than normal, but I think you'll agree when you read it that it's impossible to try and split it. **

**Chapter 19**

It was the middle of June. There had been no sign of the other vampires again. Nobody had spoken about them, but they all thought about them every now and then, and wondered what they were up to.

One day Alex was left alone at Honolulu Heights. Zoe had a day off and had decided to take herself into Cardiff and the shops. Tom and Hal had both gone off to the café, the vampire grumbling but inwardly feeling quite cheerful that he was well on the road to feeling normal again. Or as normal as he was ever likely to get.

Alex felt restless. She could have gone into Cardiff with Zoe, but had declined the offer when her friend had asked her. She supposed that she could have gone with the boys to hassle them at work, but she wasn't in the mood for that either. She hadn't even been able to work up any enthusiasm to retaliate when Hal had started moaning earlier on. He'd paused at one point, evidently expecting the ghost to butt in, but she'd just shrugged and looked back down at the newspaper which she wasn't really reading. The vampire had narrowed his eyes at her, musing, but decided that it was probably best to leave it.

Alex supposed that it was something to do with being a ghost which was making her feel so glum. Stuck in time, trapped in Barry – perpetually chained to an ancient guest house. Being taken so suddenly, before her time, oh – she dashed away the stupid, stupid tears that had begun to slip down her cheeks. Torn away from life – a few moments of pain and madness and there she was, stuck in a cellar looking at herself chained to a grille. Rubbing her eyes – literally – how had she ended up here?

She didn't feel angry at her death any more though, not really. Life goes on. She didn't even hold a grudge against Hal either – oh, he still irritated her beyond temptation at times and one of the greatest joys of her new existence was to tease him mercilessly and unrepentantly. But after all, he wasn't the one who had killed her and his guilt at being even 'tangentially' involved in her murder was always close to the surface.

When it came down to it Alex felt that she couldn't really **DO** anything, she could only respond to the actions of others. She couldn't initiate anything herself, she was just destined to be buffeted about by the swirls and eddies of fate. Forever tagging along behind the others, always in the background. She was about to realise how wrong she was.

* * *

It was well into the afternoon. The ghost was laying face down on the carpet in the living room. She'd been attempting press-ups but had only managed about 20 – even dead I'm unfit, she thought glumly, so she just stayed there, prostrate on the floor.

A noise from the back of the house disturbed her, just a small scuffling sound from outside the kitchen window. She sat up, listening. There it was again. She stood quietly and slipped into the kitchen – the blinds were halfway down and partially opened –she could see three men in a quiet huddle standing in the garden. They wore black combat clothing, with belts and straps and gadgets attached to themselves. A large jerry can stood on the ground next to them. One of the men had a coil of rope over his shoulder.

A thrill shot up Alex's spine. What did they want? One of the men moved slightly and she could see that he carried a mallet. Hell's bells! She strained her ears to try and hear what they were talking about.

"…her rooms at the front but that's too public to try and get inside…"

"…want to smoke her out….yeah?"

One of the men, bearded and full of muscle, nodded.

"The men are at work. Lena's been watching the house all day and the girl's not gone out. The ghost won't cause a problem, she has no powers as such, not like the other one that they used to talk about."

He means Annie, thought Alex, with a tinge of sadness. Then – the girl? The girl's not gone out? He can't mean me, it must be Zoe. But Zoe _was_ away – and more importantly, they'd been watching the house. The ghost felt as if her heart had plummeted into her boots. Were these the vampires who had been harassing them?

She ran for a mirror, all the way upstairs, too horrified and panic-stricken to remember to rentaghost. On returning she stood with her back to the window – one man had come closer now and was fiddling with something attached to his belt. She held up the mirror – no reflection.

The ghost's gasp was audible. The ginger haired vampire outside must have heard, he looked up and grinned.

"Think we've been rumbled, Connor," he called to the bearded man. Alex lay the mirror down carefully. Her mind was whirling. Zoe had left by the back gate that morning – she'd watered the pots and the hanging baskets on her way out. That's why the vampires hadn't seen her leave.

At least she's safe, thought Alex.

The one called Connor had come close to the window, next to the other man. He was grinning – the ghost wanted to punch him on the nose. She was just wondering if she'd be able to when the front door bell rang.

What is it now? Alex backed away from the window, across the kitchen, until she could lean over and see down the hall. A man. Was he wearing black too? She eyed the gang in the garden – they were back in a huddle, whispering – then ran quickly to the inner front door and peered through it. Someone was doing the same at the outer door – he grinned when he saw Alex.

Another vampire then, if he was able to see her. She was beginning to panic, she ran back towards the kitchen but stopped abruptly by the hideous green telephone on the bar.

I'll ring the boys, she thought, and hands shaking, lifted the receiver. Nothing. The line was dead. The vampires' had cut it.

Think Alex, think! The bloke at the front had moved away down the path so she ran back to the kitchen, just in time to see Ginger using a glass cutter to finish making a substantially sized hole in the window.

He's going to start a fire, she realised. The jerry can's full of petrol. The one called Connor had walked off. Ginger and the other guy – a weasely little fellow with dirty blonde hair – were faffing about with bits of rag around the lid of the container. Next thing they'd managed to open it and were soaking the pieces of rag in petrol.

Ginger came closer to the window. He flicked a lighter underneath the rag that he was holding as he approached the hole in the glass – in an instant Alex's brain finally smashed into gear.

They weren't Old Ones! Of course they weren't! They couldn't get inside unless invited. Quick as a flash the ghost took three smart paces up to the broken window and grabbed Ginger's wrist through the hole. He was caught off-guard – she pulled him as hard as she could up against the frame and set him off balance. He yelled, panicking – she took hold of the front of his jacket with her other hand and dragged him straight into the kitchen, the window shattering as he fell through.

Instantly smoke started pouring out of him. His flesh was melting, dripping – his skin was blistering and bursting in front of Alex's eyes. She'd seen Nick Cutler come to a similar end, all the same the sight was not one she would have wished to see again. The air was filled with the stench of – well, cooked bacon. Alex backed off and had to look away for a moment until Ginger lunged towards her, screaming, as his hair burst into flame.

Her brain snapped back into gear – there on the shelf above the draining board – she grabbed one of Tom's stakes and plunged it as hard as she could, straight into the vampire where he lay writhing on the floor. Blood spurted out in a fountain, straight through the ghost of course, covering the table, chairs and floor. She leant against the stake, twisting and straining, then remembered suddenly how Annie had despatched Cutler. Alex let go, knelt back and used her telekinetic strength to finally push the stake deep into Ginger's chest.

Instantly he was nothing but a pile of dust on the carpet, mixed in with some grubby black clothes. Alex looked up from where she was kneeling. The skinny blonde haired vampire was transfixed on the other side of the window. Without giving herself time to think the ghost grabbed hold of the stake, leapt straight through the window and struck the little weasel hard, right over his heart. He'd been so totally caught off of his guard that she managed to knock him backwards with the force of the stake – the ghost sat on his chest and twisted it in deep. There was a brief fizzing, whooshing noise and then he'd gone and Alex was left sitting on a messy pile of dust and ash and black tangled trousers.

The vampire called Connor was disappearing out of the back gate, she nearly went after him but a series of thuds and thumps from upstairs distracted her. In the blink of an eye she'd rentaghosted upstairs to find the horrific site of two blazing petrol bombs rolling across the floor of Tom's bedroom, having already set light to the bedclothes and curtains.

Bucket! Water! Where was it? In the kitchen, of course. She was downstairs again in an instant, filling the old enamel bucket with shaking hands and then upstairs again – hurling it over the mattress and duvet. Most of the flames were extinguished – she dragged the bedcovers off of the bed and threw them at the bottom of the window. The fire had a better hold here though, for a second Alex wavered until once again she remembered she had more than just physical powers at her command. She held out her arms, directly towards the curtain rails, one swift movement and she'd dragged them out of the wall. The blazing curtains tumbled to the floor. Alex grabbed hold of the soggy, charred bedclothes and finally succeeded in putting out the fire by chucking them on top of the curtains.

Relentless. The vampires were relentless. The door bell rang and rang repeatedly – she could hear them talking in the front garden. As she looked out of the window Connor was heading round towards the back of the house again.

A flash of a thought – they still believed that Zoe was in the house. Could that work in Alex's favour? Would they hang around long enough for her to be able to catch them all? The door bell buzzed on and on. She rentaghosted right in behind the front door, inside the porch, and yanked it open. Instantly the vampire on the other side fired a strange looking gun that he was holding. It was bright yellow in colour, with black edging, it looked like it was made of plastic and it fired out two long, long spiralling black wires with barbs on the ends that went straight through Alex and fell harmlessly onto the floor of the hall behind her.

"Where's the girl?" he demanded. "I've wasted my shot, you bitch!"

The ghost didn't hesitate – her lips were pressed together in a firm line as she moved her hand quickly in the direction of the hanging basket outside. Instantly another of Tom's hidden stakes appeared from behind the flowers, a flick of her wrist and it had embedded itself in the chest of the annoying, bell-ringing vampire.

"Don't call me a bitch, sugar," said Alex sharply, as his clothes dropped into a heap on the ground and he disappeared in front of her.

A clunking noise from the kitchen and she was there in an instant to see Connor throwing Molotov cocktails through the broken window, careful not to allow any part of himself to come within the boundary of the house.

"This is ridiculous," muttered Alex as she began to pick up the burning bottles and chuck them back out of the window at Connor.

"I can keep going all day, ye know," she called to the vampire outside. One of the bombs exploded but the damage was minimal – a scorched cabinet door and the loss of one teatowel. Connor stopped pouring petrol and just looked at her. His mouth was set in a grim line, he said nothing, just knelt and gave the ghost a long, calculating glare.

"What do you want?" asked Alex eventually, more than slightly creeped out by the man outside. He stood up.

"Power." He said. "And we know the way to get it." He laughed, backing away, taking the jerry can with him. "See you later, Casper." He winked, then turned and ran from the garden.

Power, thought Alex bitterly, that's all you lot ever want.

She looked around the kitchen, at the smashed window, the broken china, the remnants of bombs and furniture. The piles of vampire.

Oh dear. Hal was not going to be impressed.

* * *

**There we are then! What did you make of that? More soon!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Just a short chapter to deal with the aftermath of Alex's adventure. Hope that you enjoy it - thanks to all you reviewers out there, especially Kate this time, because she always signs in as a guest, and also to the awesome MancVamp!**

* * *

**Chapter 20**

Hal and Tom were first back, unsure of exactly how to begin telling them what had happened meant that Alex had decided to leave all the evidence – or mess – where it was. She had spent the time making cups of tea while awaiting their return. There were about eight mugfulls sitting on the table by the time the boys came home.

Hal flew in the front door which Alex realised she'd left ajar – he kicked against the odd-looking gun which was lying in the hall.

"What the…?" he started to shout, took one look at the ghost's face which had started to pucker, and stopped. "Tell us what happened," he added quietly, taking her elbow gently and guiding her into a chair.

So, after a quick but furious wipe of her eyes and nose she did, right from the failed press-ups incident. The boys' wandered in and out as she told her tale, sweeping, cleaning – Hal brought the strange little gun into the kitchen at one point.

"It's a Taser," said Tom, ominously. "What d'they want wiv one o' them?"

When Alex came to the part about his bedroom being attacked he shot upstairs, coming back down with an armful of singed, soggy bedclothes and curtains.

"Never mind," he said, trying to be cheerful. "S'just stuff. Not like none of us is hurt, eh?"

Zoe. Alex's stomach hit the floor – she tried to speak, to say what she'd heard. Even as she started to speak the front door opened and in walked her friend, completely unscathed. The ghost threw herself at the human girl and dissolved into tears.

Zoe had no idea what was going on - she stood, rather bemused, patting where Alex's shoulder seemed to be and saying "there, there," until Tom managed to disentagle the ghost and lead her gently into the living room. He sat her down on the old couch where she proceeded to sob all over him. Zoe followed them and sat on her other side – even Hal came over, hooked the saggy old pouffe closer with his foot and sat down with them, resting his hand briefly on the ghost's arm.

Eventually poor Alex managed to stop weeping, worn out from all the excitement she managed to stammer out what she had heard Connor and the other vampire saying earlier. She kept welling up - when she told them how the bell-ringing vampire had fired the Taser at her, thinking she was Zoe, she had to take refuge in her hanky again. The whole day and all the excitement and fear that had come with it had completely done for the poor ghost.

The others' just let her bawl it all out, and patted and calmed her, and brought her a blanket and copious tissues until at last she fell asleep, leaning against Tom.

After a few minutes of quiet Hal stood up and gently drew Zoe away and into the kitchen with him. His stomach had clenched into a tight knot as he had listened to the ghost tell her tale of the attack on the house. When she described the Taser incident he felt as if someone had poured iced water down his back. He could feel Zoe's consternation as well, she'd only come in for the end of the story but he knew that she was afraid. He owned a little piece of her inner essence now, after all, as she owned his. She must have felt the vampire's fear too – as he looked at her she moved suddenly, came into his arms and buried her face in his shoulder.

Hal was momentarily startled, but the instinctive fear and dislike he normally felt on such occasions was absent, almost without realising he folded his arms around her and rested his cheek against her hair.

"What shall we do?" whispered Zoe after a few minutes. "Why are they after me?"

Hal shook his head slowly.

"I have no idea. The vampire who Alex said was called Connor told her that they wanted power. But how do they think that you can help them with that?"

Zoe looked up at him.

"My blood?"

He pursed his lips, looking over her head into the distance.

"I don't think do. Although…" he gazed at her intently, speculatively, "you have my protection now, remember? That can surely only work in our favour."

The girl nodded slowly, thinking. The bundle of nerves that used to be her stomach unclenched itself slightly. So did Hal's. They looked at each other.

"We'll get them," said the old vampire, slowly, but with conviction. Zoe stepped out of his arms, took both of his hands in her own and squeezed them.

"Bring it on."

* * *

"Thank goodness that you did stay indoors today, Alex," said Zoe later that evening, as the two girls sat on the sofa together. "The whole house would have burnt down otherwise."

"I suppose so." The ghost shrugged, feeling slightly more cheerful.

"What do you mean, 'I suppose so' ?" said Tom from the depths of the armchair. "We'd have been looking for a new home by now if it weren't for you. All our precious things'd be gone."

Alex nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe I am still useful after all."

"Of course you are!" Zoe was appalled. "What would we do without you? You're our – er, like – our hub! Don't ever think otherwise. Don't you ever talk about us not needing you."

Our hub. Instinctively the vampire and the werewolf looked at each other. Once another ghost had taken on that role – dearest Annie – she had left a void so deep that it had seemed sometimes as if it would be there forever. But slowly, surely, without any of them realising, Alex had gradually begun to take over where Annie had left off, and to heal that gaping chasm.

Tom winked.

"You're a nitwit sometimes," he grinned at her. "Actually, I think most girls are. McNair _never _said that!"

"Plus, it was you who discovered their plan," added Zoe, "or at least, part of it."

"And you took out a few of 'em 'n' all," Tom was cheerfully whittling on a new piece of wood. "Less for me to catch later."

Alex nodded again, smiling properly for the first time that day.

"Although," a voice came floating in from the kitchen, "your cleaning skills have not improved lately. You left the biggest mess I've seen in a long while."

Hal came to the wall hatch and looked through it. He smiled, one of his beautiful, genuine smiles.

"But I think that I'll let you off for today."

* * *

**Well, there you go! We're heading fast towards our heroes' final showdown with the other vampires! Are you ready? Because it's coming soon!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Longest chapter yet I'm afraid! Again, nowhere to split it in the middle. Hope that everyone enjoys it.**

**Chapter 21**

Another few days passed. Everyone was very cautious if they needed to leave the house at all, spying out the surrounding area before they went outside, looking up and down the street. Zoe didn't go out on her own at all, both Hal and Tom had forbidden it and she certainly had no wish to argue with them.

Every shift that she worked one of them marched her down to the beach hut and then sat at one of the tables nearby until it was time to walk her home again. Alex, left in charge at Honolulu Heights was under strict orders to rentaghost down to either the beach hut or the café if any unsavoury types tried to make an univited entrance again.

But nothing happened. A full week had dragged by since Connor and his team had attacked the house and there hadn't been sight nor sound of anything out of the ordinary. Zoe had a day off at last – both Hal and Tom had gone to work, leaving the girls in the house. Alex was snooping about up in the attic, there were piles of boxes and suitcases up there – she'd been itching to have a good old rummage since she moved in. Zoe had been up there as well but had come down to make a cup of tea, it was while she was waiting for the kettle to boil that the doorbell rang.

She jumped, her heart beginning to pound in her chest, and crept towards the kitchen door where she could see down the hall. In an instant everything changed. The outline of the person leaning up against the glass was unmistakable to her, the dear voice calling gently "Hey, people!" was instantly recognisable. She flew down the corridor, tore open the inner door, then the outer one and flung her arms around Danny.

He held her so tightly in return, squashing her against himself, burying his face in her hair. He was mumbling, stammering – he didn't know what he was saying, incomprehensible words just came tumbling out.

Zoe could feel tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes – she turned her face into her brother's chest, he loosened his grip on her a little and for a long few minutes they just stood in silence with their arms around each other.

"I didn't realise how much I'd missed you, Zo," said Danny eventually, releasing her from his bear hug and holding her away from himself. "How have you been? I didn't even know if you'd still be here."

His sister smiled, wiping her face with the palms of her hands.

"Yeah, I'm still here. So much has happened since you went, I don't know where to begin." She paused and squeezed the tops of his muscled arms. "You're looking good though."

Danny laughed.

"Well, I think this life agrees with me," he chuckled, then added soberly, "I mean all the outdoors stuff, the walking cross country and that kind of stuff. Not the…you know…the rest of it."

The killing you mean, thought Zoe but was interrupted as Alex suddenly rentaghosted in beside them, making both of the twins jump. Then Danny was hugging the ghost as well, and Alex was laughing – suddenly he realised that Zoe could see the ghost – flabberghasted, his expression made the girls' laugh even more.

Eventually they made their way into the sitting room and spread themselves over the sofas – the forgotten cup of tea was remade, two cups now and Danny began to fill them in on what had happened to him since he last saw them.

"Well, we crossed the Channel," he began, "we went on the ferry, Jack likes it better than the tunnel, and we hung around in Paris for a bit. That's such a cool city!" His face was animated, his eyes sparkling and he waved his arms around excitedly as he spoke. Zoe laughed and he grinned back, his old, natural, friendly smile. She hadn't seen that for a while.

"We did all the tourist stuff," he went on. "The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame – guess what? Jack says that the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame is based on a real vampire who lived in the bell tower!"

"No way!" "Never!" Alex and Zoe were both amazed.

"You're kidding us, sugar," added the ghost.

"Nope!" Danny had a cheeky, triumphant look on his face and his eyes were twinkling. "And Esmeralda was a real girl who fell in love with him, except really he wasn't a hunchback – a bit like Richard the Third – and they lived in the bell tower until she died and then he was heartbroken, he was old too and he'd had enough so he got someone to stake him!"

He finished excitedly, chuffed with both his slightly muddled re-telling of the story and the impressed look on his audience's faces'.

"So anyway…" he continued.

"Wait!" His sister interrupted. She looked across at Alex, who raised her eyebrows. Zoe could feel her heart thumping again, the sound of it was banging in her ears – suddenly she felt hot and shaky and full of apprehension. "Just wait a minute."

Danny looked at her quizzically.

"Did you send me a parcel?" she blurted out.

"Parcel?" he pursed his lips. "No, I wrote to you – did you get it? It was just a letter."

The girls' looked at each other.

"You didn't send me a parcel then?" continued Zoe. She swallowed, her voice stuck in her throat. " With…with…a photoframe in?"

"No." Danny was looking at her intently. "No, I didn't. Why?"

His sister shook her head, unable to speak. In her mind's eye she was back upstairs a few weeks ago, looking down at her friend lying sick and unmoving in a rumpled, sweat soaked bed, fighting for his life.

"Someone tried to curse us," said Alex, succinctly, and straight to the point. "They addressed a parcel to Zoe and inside was a present that they'd taped a curse on to."

Silence. Danny looked from one to the other of them, his mind having trouble taking in what had just been said.

"Were you – cursed?" he took hold of his sister's hand. She shook her head again.

"No." her voice was a whisper. "But Hal was."

"Is he…" the boy couldn't finish his question.

"No." Alex spoke firmly. "Because those of us with the sense to see that curses are all in the mind managed to prove to him that he was acting like an idiot. He's fine now."

"Thank God!" said Danny fervently, and both of the girls knew that his relief was genuine. He hadn't been involved with whoever had sent that parcel. Zoe put her arms around her brother. He looked down at her, worried, then across at the ghost.

"I think that you'd better tell me what I've been missing out on," he said soberly.

* * *

It was a good length of time before the girls' had filled Danny in completely on everything that had happened since he'd left. He was amazed, sickened and admiring in equal measures, especially when he learnt of how Alex had defended the house completely on her own.

"Seriously impressive," he acknowledged, looking at the ghost with a new respect. "Remind me never to cross you."

His friend looked smug.

"And you," he turned to Zoe. As soon as the front door had opened earlier and she'd thrown herself on top of him there had been something about her that he just couldn't put his finger on. He'd thought that it was just the fact that he hadn't seen her in a while that had diminished his desire to harm her, but he realised now that it was something else. She smelled different, she had some sort of aura around her – intangible, elusive and yet very, very strong. She returned his gaze steadily.

"I'm not sorry that it's happened," she told him. "Not if it means things are easier between us. Plus I can see Alex now too."

Danny pulled her into a hug.

"I'm not sorry either," he smiled. "I mean, I'm sorry about Hal being ill and all that, but… you know."

Alex stood up and headed for the kitchen.

"Another cup of tea?" she called back.

"Yes please," the twins spoke together, paused, then laughed. But after a minute or two of sitting quietly Danny had a concerned look on his face again.

"You said that they were after _you_ though," he whispered. He wasn't sure why he was whispering, he just felt that 'they' included all vampires, therefore him, and he didn't really want Alex to hear him talking. It made him feel guilty.

Zoe nodded slowly, her dark eyes turned towards to him.

"I don't know why they think I can give them power though. I mean, I'm just a puny little human. Why me?" She ended on a slight wobble and had to look away.

Her brother squeezed her hand gently.

"Don't worry, Jack and I are back in the country now. He's looking for some friends' of his – I'm probably going to stay with him for a while longer." He paused, looking at his sister caringly. "I just came by to let you know that everything's alright. But I will be back, you know, it won't be for ever."

Zoe nodded. Hearing him speak about leaving again was almost as bad as the first time it had happened. She could feel herself welling up.

"Maybe you'd even be alright hanging out with me for a while," he added, hopefully. "Now that you're protected. Perhaps Hal would let us, I dunno, go down to the shops or something. Jack said that we'll be around Cardiff for a while, so I'm not rushing straight off."

His sister's face lit up.

"Really? I'm sure that Hal would be alright about it. After all, Tom could always come with us or something."

Danny pulled his mouth down a little bit. He had grown out of the habit of thinking kindly of werewolves while he had been away. He nodded though.

"Of course. Tom was so good to me. Of course."

"Come on." Zoe pulled him to his feet. "Let's find Alex and see if that tea's ready."

As they strolled towards the kitchen however another thought crossed her mind.

"Your letter, though, the one that you sent to me," she stopped, just inside the kitchen door. Alex looked up as they entered. "It was stuck to the parcel. It was definitely your letter and it was definitely stuck to that parcel."

Danny was silent, his mind turning over, thinking back.

"I posted it at Dover – wait." Suddenly his expression changed, sharpened. His eyes were intent, almost afraid, as he looked at his sister. If his heart was still beating it would have begun to race. He could feel fear creeping up on him, his spine felt as if it was made of ice. "No – no, I didn't."

His face looked awful, grey – he was trying to get the words out.

"I gave it to Jack," he whispered. "I gave it to him to post. He said, he said that he had other things to send, he said…" his voice trailed off.

All three of them stood appalled, looking at each other. Even Alex was lost for words. Eventually she stammered out:- "Those friends' that Jack said he's visiting…"

Danny shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered.

"We need Hal," said Zoe softly, trying to be brave but feeling as if her stomach had sunk down through her feet and into the floor. "We need him now."

But it was too late. A crash was heard from upstairs and instantly Alex had rentaghosted away. Half a heartbeat later the back door smashed back on it's hinges, crashing into the wall as Jack appeared from nowhere and motioned for Connor to follow him into the house. Connor grabbed Zoe and held her tightly against himself, his hand over her mouth.

Danny moved towards them, horrified, but could do nothing – his creator held his hand up, forbidding him to come closer.

Zoe was struggling, trying to free her hands. She went to bite the vampire but stopped, wondering if it would affect her bond with Hal if she drew blood. Another second and Connor swung her round towards the back door, as a new vampire appeared and fired the Taser that he was holding straight at the girl.

The pain was instantaneous, immense, tortuous. She arced back in Connor's arms, her muscles rigid, twitching and then collapsed unconscious as the vampire scooped her up and ran from the house.

Danny stumbled, almost fell – he ran after them. The last thing that Alex saw as she rentaghosted back downstairs was the boy racing from the empty kitchen. She ran to the front windows, just in time to see Connor bundle her unconscious friend into the back of a white van and drag Danny in after himself. The vehicle roared away, uphill, out of town and Alex, shaking and terrified, was left alone in Honolulu Heights.

**Well, you didn't think that you'd seen the last of Danny and Jack, did you? You're about to find out what the vampires want Zoe for as well! Good luck!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Here you go then - the beginning of the end! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 22**

"What are you doing?" yelled Danny over the noise of the engine as the van screeched and bounced along the back streets of Barry. He was trying to get hold of his sister – she lay on the floor, gently rolling from side to side as the vehicle moved along.

He slapped Jack's face hard, furious with him. The boy's eyes' were blazing, he threw his weight against the older man's chest and they both fell. Anger gave Danny physical strength over his maker as they wrestled on the floor, kicking and punching each other. Soon Jack found himself wedged partly under one of the seats with his protégé kneeling on his chest, both his wrists held down against the floor.

"Get off of me," he hissed.

"No!" Danny's anger was uncontrollable, his mouth set in a straight line as he looked down into his maker's eyes. "You tell me what you're doing with her. What we're doing here in Wales at all."

Jack tried to wrench his arms out of the younger man's grip – he was surprised by the boy's physical strength, but more importantly at the attachment that he still had to his sister. To disobey one's creator in the vampire world was nigh on impossible and yet he could see something unyielding in Danny's eyes. For an instant he felt a flicker of fear within himself – what could be stronger than the bond that a vampire had with his maker? Then the thought had passed – he had another way of controlling the boy now.

"Let me go or we'll kill her," he stated abruptly. Danny paused, still looking down at him, then pushed himself away, moving closer to where Zoe was lying on the floor. He looked uncertain now, fearful.

"What are you doing?" he whispered, pleadingly.

"Later." Jack turned away from him and began fiddling with bits and pieces inside a kitbag that was lying on the floor of the van. "You can wait now." He looked back over his shoulder at Danny, a hard, vicious glare. "I'll tell you when I feel like it."

The young vampire sat nervously, with his sister's hand in his own, as the van drove on, towards Cardiff, through the midday traffic.

* * *

The van eventually pulled up outside a chemist's shop of all places, towards the centre of Cardiff. Zoe had come round – groggy and trembling, her chest felt as if a rhino had head-butted her. There was a faint tang of blood about her where the barbs from the Taser had torn her skin. Danny didn't feel the zealous hunger that he normally did when he caught that scent however – there must be something in that 'marking' business, he thought. Jack showed no interest in her whatsoever so it was hard to guess whether he was affected by either the blood or the marking – his guard was obviously stronger due to his life and experience. Connor seemed to be a different matter – he was more aware of the human girl, frequently looking across at her, a slight incline of the head as he sniffed subtly. At one point, albeit briefly, there had been an almost imperceptible lengthening of his canine teeth. Danny pulled his sister as close to him as he could – she looked like she was about to throw up, her skin was grey and clammy.

"Inside then." Jack jerked his head in the direction of the chemist's. "And don't try anything stupid. Straight in, behind the counter and out to the back."

Danny nodded, leading the others' into the shop which was empty of customers. A woman stood behind the counter, older, grey haired – Zoe recognised her as one of the vampires' who had been watching the house.

They passed through, not speaking, into another room. It was full of trays and medicines, mixing equipment and syringes – all the paraphernalia of a working pharmacy.

Then they were out through another door – a larger room divided by a counter. On one side was a table and chairs, small fridge, microwave, kettle, little TV and radio. On the other side stood a large, American style refrigerator with double doors. "Blood Products Only" it said on one of the doors, "Antibiotics and Oral Medication" on the other. A large wooden table stood in the same area, at the far end of the room several oxygen cylinders stood neatly against the wall, with the usual 'Hazardous', 'Flammable', 'No Smoking' posters around them. There was a small toilet and shower room right at the back and an open plan staircase ran back over their heads, leading to the floor upstairs.

"Sit." Jack's voice was like ice, he bit out the word and indicated the table and chairs with his hand. The twins sat, too wary to think of doing anything else.

"You're staying here." It was a statement, directed at Zoe. His eyes were hard as he looked at her. She neither moved nor spoke, just gazed up at him. She felt nauseous, headachey, clammy – side effects of being knocked out by the Taser no doubt. Her chest felt sore where the barbs had pierced it earlier.

The older vampire pointed at her, wagging his finger. "We're keeping you. As leverage. As a bargaining chip – our piece de resistance."

"What for?" Danny's voice was hardly more than a whisper.

Jack snorted.

"To bring your 'friend' onto our side, of course." He smirked. "Hal."

Zoe's stomach dropped. She really thought that she was about to throw up, her insides were churning. All the time then, back at Honolulu Heights – the other vampires, the curse, the attack on the house – all that time the prize that they had been after was Hal.

"My friends," Jack continued " were left as, well, orphans if you like when your friends organised an explosion which caused the destruction of their leaders. I'm talking about the Old Ones!" He finished on a shout.

The twins jumped. There was a slight pause. Connor and the other vampire had come into the room behind them, they stood leaning up against the wall. The bearded man said nothing, merely watched as Jack continued with the story.

"Connor here was turned by a very, very old vampire called Mr Snow, during the Old One's voyage here. He's really not very happy that his maker is now blasted to all the four winds. He turned Lena – our little pharmacist out there – to the cause, and she then did the same to her daughter, oh I forget her name. Keeping it in the family, as they say."

The girl in the jogging suit, thought Zoe. She wondered where she was now.

"And we also have…er…" Jack looked over at Connor. "What's this guy's name?"

"Nathan," replied the other vampire. His gaze was resting possessively on the human girl again. She acted as if she was unaware of him.

I wonder what he'll think if I chuck up all over this table? she thought, as another wave of nausea rolled over her and she had to put her hands up to her mouth.

Jack seemed blithely unaware of her discomfort and continued talking.

"Now, I happened to meet these delightful people when I came here to Barry a few months ago looking for you." He looked at Danny and his gaze changed subtly. He dropped his arrogant air slightly, a flash of possessiveness flitted across his face.

"I _was_ looking for you before I became involved in helping them," he added, but Danny had already looked away.

"I should have known," he whispered, shaking his head slowly. "You didn't really want to help me, you just used me in a plan to help your friends. You would have stayed with me right from the beginning if you'd really cared."

"No!" Jack was different suddenly, intense, not as cocky as he had been. "I meant what I said that day when I took you away. I would have taken you to train you – I just happened to meet the others first. But I have no loyalty either to a teetotal Old One." He spat out the last three words, back to his hard, vicious self.

"So, in short, we're keeping her" he jerked his head at Zoe, "until your mate Hal comes in with this lot and takes over leadership, then you and I can sod off again. And you _will_ come with me when I leave." he finished harshly.

"What will happen to my sister?" Danny squeezed Zoe's hand tightly under the table. She felt cold, like ice.

"Told you." Jack shrugged dismissively. "She's a prisoner here. I suppose that Hal will decide what to do with her once he returns to our ways and takes control. You're free to do what you like." He nodded at Danny. "Check out Barry, Cardiff – take in the sights. But if you contact your friends AT ALL – we'll kill her."

His eyes were dark, stony, full of hatred, his voice disdainful, final. The twins knew without a doubt that he meant what he said. In reality they were both prisoners. Zoe's life was on the line – they were trapped.

* * *

**Do we like Connor? We don't, do we. :( He'll probably cause some trouble later on, do you think? )**


	23. Chapter 23

**Short chapter this time. Hope that you enjoy it! Thanks for all the feedback.**

**Chapter 23**

Night time at Honolulu Heights. Alex sat at the table in the kitchen, drooping red-eyed over her cup of tea. Tom was opposite, he'd eaten a few mouthfuls of his dinner but the plate had now been pushed away to the side. He was leaning on the table, head in hands.

Hal stood at the sink with his back to the others. His face looked as if it was made from stone. He was washing up methodically but his mind was somewhere else entirely. He was searching, probing that telepathic link with the human girl, trying to find the twins. He felt sick, but the sensation didn't emanate from himself. Somewhere Zoe was feeling ill and he could feel it too. A wave of nausea rolled over the vampire – he had to lean on the sink, washing up forgotten.

"Y'alright?" asked Tom, who had looked up moments earlier.

Hal nodded, not trusting himself to speak until the sickness had passed. There was silence again. After a few minutes he resumed the washing up. His mind was racing, but racing in a methodical, organised fashion. The telepathic link with his human friend snaked out again, stretching, touching. His eyes were closed, hands in the sink, washing up forgotten. Tom was watching him, without realising it he had become aware that the vampire was doing something more than just daydreaming over the dishes. He touched Alex's arm gently and put his finger to his lips. She nodded.

Hal's chest hurt – he lifted a soapy hand to touch it. A stinging, burning sensation came from nowhere – he jerked suddenly as if electrocuted. Two areas of his chest continued to throb.

"Taser," he murmured.

Tom's eyebrows raised but he said nothing to disturb the other man's thoughts.

The nausea came upon Hal again, just as Zoe had done he pushed his hand to his mouth as his stomach churned. The image of a man began to assemble inside his mind – dark, handsome, smart. He was sat in front of them in a – a – storeroom? Perhaps. She had been afraid of the man. The mists cleared – he saw Jack. His mind continued to probe – he felt Danny alongside, then a vision of a shop. Or a laboratory? They had walked through there – no, definitely a shop, a chemist's. A woman with grey hair – worried, nervous, a vampire.

"Vampires." His voice was low – he was no longer in the B & B but elsewhere, searching. The link with Zoe was strengthening.

It's always the bastard vampires, wrote Alex on a spare post-it. Tom squeezed her hand.

A small room. Hal felt as if he was lying down. The nausea had lessened but he felt exhausted suddenly – his legs sagged as he leant over the sink, clutching at the taps to stop himself falling. He _was_ falling – falling asleep – for a moment he thought that he could see Zoe right in front of him. His eyes looked straight into hers' – he smiled.

"We're coming," he whispered.

"Hal! Hal!" Tom was crouched in front of him, shaking him gently. He opened his eyes – he was sitting on the kitchen floor with his back leaning against the cupboards. "Y'alright mate?"

The vampire felt disconnected for a moment, unsure of where he was, disorientated. It took him a while to focus on his friend's face and come back to the present.

"You okay?" Alex was stood looking down at him, worried. He nodded, and pulled himself up with the hand that she offered. Tom stood as well.

"They are being kept prisoner, I think." Hal shut his eyes briefly, trying to organise all of the thoughts that had just tumbled through his mind. "Jack is there."

Tom hissed quietly through his teeth.

"But they're not far away. I'm not sure exactly where but I believe, yes – a chemist's shop, either here or in Cardiff somewhere. Not far away. I may be able to narrow it down if I can connect with Zoe again."

"What do they want 'em for though?" asked the young werewolf.

Hal shook his head.

"That, I don't know yet. Zoe's afraid though." He frowned. "Some kind of blackmail? Or bargain? It must be something to do with us."

"It's always to do with us," muttered Alex, darkly.

"I suspect that Jack and his associates will contact us with details of whatever it is that they want," said the vampire. "I don't feel that either of them are in imminent danger. I suggest that you, Tom, get a good night's sleep – we may need your strength soon."

Tom nodded slowly. He looked at his friend with complete trust in his eyes.

"You're the boss," was all that he said.

Hal pulled his mouth into a strange little grimace.

"Hardly. If nothing else we've all shown over the past few months that we need each other. But I do believe – yes – the link between Zoe and myself can only be of benefit in this situation. We just need to bide our time and play their game for a while."

"But we're in charge?" queried Tom, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh yes." Hal smiled, and it wasn't entirely a pleasant smile. "We are most definitely in charge."

* * *

A few miles away, in the upstairs room of a chemist's shop in Cardiff, Zoe lay on a camp bed, a vision of Hal crouched in front of her slowly fading away. She smiled. They were coming.

**Short chapter, like I said. Ready for more?...**


	24. Chapter 24

**Heading for the final showdown now, but not quite there yet. This chapter is for all you BH bloggers, cos I know that some of you are reading this but not reviewing. :)**

**Chapter 24**

Danny stood in the chemist's shop, watching Lena the pharmacist serve customers. They came and went from the little store, oblivious to the drama that was being played out upstairs. He swung a stand of sunglasses and hair adornments morosely around. Lena looked sharply at him, frowning. Danny shrugged.

Not that anything really was happening upstairs. They had been with the vampires for two days now – Jack had made no attempt to contact Hal and the others as yet.

"Leave them to stew for a few days," he had said nastily. "Let them worry and fret for a bit. Make Hal more keen to help us."

Zoe was shut upstairs all of the time. She was in a small treatment room, Lena had grudgingly told them that it was used for ear-piercing and beauty treatments. There was a reclining dentist's-type chair, and the camp bed, plus numerous cupboards and drawers with various 'beauty' bits and pieces inside. There was a sink in one corner and a little toilet cubicle – a perfect, self-contained prison.

She was bored stupid. Danny had bought her a couple of magazines and Lena had, with a bit of grumbling, lent her a Mills and Boon romance, which Zoe had gingerly peeped into and shut again hastily.

She hadn't felt Hal looking for her again. She didn't know if he was playing the waiting game, like Jack, or whether he just wasn't able to locate her. But both the twins felt comforted, knowing that their friends' were hatching a plan.

"Remember," Danny had told her. "It's not just Hal. There's Tom and Alex too. They're quite a team."

"I know." Zoe patted his arm. "I know. We need to be ready, all the time. Ready to run in an instant. Y'know."

Her brother laughed. "Yeah, I get you."

But nothing had happened yet and although he wouldn't admit it he was becoming worried. Surely Hal would have thought of something by now? Even Tom – Danny squashed down his animosity in general towards werewolves –Tom was sharp and clever in his own way. They must be looking for them. They _must!_

How can I help them? Thought the young vampire, remembering clearly the threats that Jack had made towards himself and Zoe. His heart sank. There must be a way, there's always a way. He knew that Connor had gone to watch the house and Nathan was down at the café. Where else did the three housemates go? Nowhere really.

Danny swung the sunglasses stand round again – several hair bobbles tumbled to the floor. He sighed and bent to pick them up.

"Be careful with the goods," snapped Lena.

"They're not broken," retorted Danny, crossly.

"Why don't you go out somewhere?" asked the pharmacist, irritably. "You take up half of the shop! Why don't you go to the park or something, whatever it is that you young people do!"

Danny swore under his breath and slammed out of the shop. The little park was just down the street – a children's area, picnic tables, a few trees. He sat on one of the tables with his feet on a seat, daring anyone to tell him to get off. The sun was bright, he pulled his cap down over his eyes and put on his sunglasses. A fat duck waddled past on it's way to the pond opposite. An equally plump toddler followed it – Danny held his breath – he hadn't fed since his return to Wales and was beginning to feel the effects. He shut his eyes.

I need a bigger park, he thought, like the one where we met Tom.

Next instant his eyes snapped back open. He sat up, excitement flooding through him suddenly.

How can I have been so slow? he thought. Idiot!

"May I?" he spoke politely to an elderly gentleman who was sat reading a newspaper. "Just for a moment – to check the weather."

The man obliged, smiling, but it wasn't the weather that Danny really wanted to look at. There, next to the map of the British Isles, the phase of the moon. Just as he'd thought – tonight. Full moon.

How quickly until they realised that he was gone? He was already up and walking quickly away in the direction of the station. It was his only chance. Fumbling in his pocket he could feel a scrap of paper and an old biro. He pulled his cap further down over his face, looked back briefly in the direction of the chemist's, then began to run.

* * *

Full moon. Alex sat alone in the garden, looking up at the huge, beautiful orb which governed Tom's life, one night a month. He had never known a different life, it had always been just him and McNair and the moon, once a month, adventuring out in the darkness. He was always so cheerful, never complaining, just disappearing every four weeks with his little kitbag, and returning smiling the next morning.

The ghost brushed her hand across her eyes. It was so quiet here with just herself and Hal. Lonely and worrying – who knew what was happening to Zoe and Danny? Hal kept them calm. He hadn't been able to trace them again, not exactly, but he said that he could _feel_ Zoe somehow, almost hear her. If he closed his eyes and concentrated he said it was as if they were moving and talking in another room close by. They were in Cardiff, he was sure of it now.

Occasionally a random picture flashed across his inner eye – a romantic book (that had been weird!), the inside of a door with a fire exit sign on the back. A view of roofs – from a window somewhere. A bridge – he had seen that bridge before. Cardiff.

Alex stood up to go back indoors, suddenly she became aware of Hal behind her in the doorway. His eyes were closed, hands on the door frame. She said nothing, just waited.

Zoe was being dragged down the stairs – he could feel someone's hand in her hair, pulling. Her arm was being yanked – they threw her onto the floor. Connor was looking down at her, his face a mask of disdain but also obsession.

"He wants her for himself," muttered Hal.

Danny was there with a black eye, blood on his lips and chin – his knuckles were bruised and cut. Jack was kicking him, punching him – he had him up against the wall.

"Don't tell him," Zoe was thinking. "Don't tell him where you've been."

Jack was yelling, ranting – Hal couldn't discern what he was saying – he was pointing, stabbing his finger at the girl on the floor. Suddenly he flung Danny across the table with such force that the boy's head smashed against the wall on the other side, he tumbled to the floor and lay still. Zoe crawled to her brother, she stroked the hair from his forehead – he didn't move.

"If I knew for sure…" Jack started to say, striding towards Zoe, but before he could reach her he jumped back as if scalded. Swearing he threw a cup at the girl, who ducked out of it's way. The furious vampire was shouting at Connor now, he grabbed Danny and began to drag him upstairs again as Zoe followed and the picture faded.

Hal opened his eyes, staggering slightly as he came back to the real world. Alex had hold of his arms, she held him against the door frame as he shook his head and cleared his senses.

"What did you see?" she whispered, looking into the vampire's tawny eyes. He was silent for a few moments.

"Two things mainly, no three." He paused. "The vampire Connor wants Zoe."

Alex shuddered. "Poor girl."

"He won't disobey Jack though, not yet. Danny has done something, been somewhere perhaps, and it's made them angry. He's disobeyed them – they can't prove it though. I don't know…" his voice trailed off for a moment. "Maybe he was trying to contact us. They've hurt him."

Alex sucked air through her teeth.

"Badly? Hurt badly?"

Hal shook his head.

"I don't know. Unlikely. It's hard to really hurt a vampire unless you stake them or blow them up. But there was something else…wait…"

He closed his eyes again, untangling the jumble of pictures and emotions that he'd just been privy to.

"Yes," he looked at Alex, the beginnings of a smile playing around his lips. "Jack can't get close to Zoe."

"Ye what?" The ghost raised her eyebrows.

"Do you remember when he first came here and I forbade him to come within five feet of her? Well, the order still holds. He can't go near her."

Hal laughed, delightedly, a proper, out-loud laugh. Alex was so surprised that she laughed too – she wasn't sure that she'd ever heard the vampire do more than chuckle before.

"That will count in our favour," he carried on, becoming serious again. "We must be vigilant and observant as well – Danny must have tried to contact us. Be ready for anything Alex."

She nodded.

"Aye. Be alert and wait."

They didn't have to wait for long. When Tom came home the next morning he had a little roll of scrappy paper in his pocket, which he had found pushed into the bark of a tree, up where he hid his clothes in the parkland. A little scrap of paper that, as Tom so aptly commented, "stank of vampires."

A message from Danny.

* * *

Zoe sat on the floor. Danny lay on the camp bed, his face clean but with blood still matted in his hair where he'd hit the wall. He'd come to once, mumbling about a headache, and then fallen asleep again. Well, his sister hoped he was asleep and not having a brain haemorrhage. Could vampires get seriously wounded? She thought probably not – in general they seemed a sturdy bunch. He looked so pale though – she wondered if he'd fed lately.

She'd saved some of the pizza that she had been given for supper in case he wanted it if he woke up – 'Mess of Meats' it was called, or something like that. Perhaps all the beef and bacon on the top would help her brother.

The moon was sailing across the sky, outside the small window. She wondered where Tom was, and if he had found their message yet. Danny murmured in his sleep again and she turned back to face him.

Trust in Tom, she thought. Trust the others. They were coming.

* * *

**Okay? Take a deep breath - ready? On we go!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Massive thanks to all of you Being Human fans who continue to read this - it really does mean such alot to me. :)) This chapter is made up of lots of little chunks - hope it's not too higgledy-piggledy and that you enjoy it!**

**Chapter 25**

The next morning Zoe woke up to the sound of hammering at very close quarters. Danny was gone and bizarrely, the door stood wide open. She tiptoed to the threshold and cautiously poked her head out.

Connor was knocking nails into the door frame at the end of the short upstairs corridor. As she watched he looped long strips of what looked like ribbon over the nails, so that they hung down like tassels. He carried on bashing away for a while then reached down into a tool bag that was on the floor. She noticed for the first time that he was wearing thick rubber gloves – like street cleaners used. He poked around inside the bag and then – Zoe couldn't be sure at first – oh, for crying out loud, he pulled out at old video cassette. Even before he started hauling it out of it's casing she knew what he was going to do. He looped it around the nails in the door frame, criss-crossing it over the doorway itself, making a spider's web of tape.

He caught sight of her watching and smirked.

"Cursed," he confirmed. "I'd like to see your mates get through that. Dunno how you all managed to avoid that curse before."

So, you didn't work that out then, clever dick, thought Zoe, and then – idiot! Like that's going to stop us.

The fact that Connor had hammered himself into the corridor on her side was rather disconcerting however. She would have to be careful. She crept back into the little treatment room and quietly shut the door. Where was Danny?

* * *

Danny was, obviously, on the other side of the tape. He sat downstairs, with a pounding headache and huge black eye. Jack had brought him a cup of coffee – if he hadn't felt so sore and tired he might have thrown it back in his face. As it was he just swallowed a mouthful of it and laid his head on his hands.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," his maker's voice broke in on his thoughts. Danny looked up. "I lost my temper. We didn't know where you were, that's all. And I warned you…" A steely edge crept into his voice.

"I told you," the younger man played along with the story he'd thought up yesterday. "She" – he pointed through to the shop – "told me to get out. So I got out, went for a run, went for a feed and came back. End of."

Which was the truth, he conceded, although the run had been along the railway line to Barry and back, and the feeding had been by courtesy of a very large and mean looking dog who had had the misfortune to get in his way.

"Well," to give him his due Jack did look rather remorseful, "stay around here in future. It'll all be over soon and you and I can go off travelling again. I'm going into Barry later to contact your Old One friend. You can come with me if you want."

Danny shrugged.

"I'll probably stay here." He wasn't leaving his sister on her own with the vampires. He pointed to his fading black eye. "And I'm not exactly an advert for the kindliness of our lot, am I?"

Jack pulled his mouth into a grimace but didn't try to talk him into coming. An hour or so later he put on his jacket, nodded at Danny, beckoned Nathan from the back room and left through the shop, on his way to Barry.

* * *

Alex sat in the sitting room of Honolulu Heights. Both of the men had gone to work at the café.

"It may catch them off guard," Hal had said. "They will expect us to be here, I think, all staying together. If we split up and stay in the public eye as much as possible it makes it harder for them to negotiate with us."

"And that's what we want?" had asked Tom.

"Oh yes." Hal had smiled briefly. "It will irk them not to be able to talk to us when _they _wish to do so. They cannot move on to the next stage of any plan if they haven't been able to complete the first."

Tom had shrugged. "If you say so mate," and so off they had gone, down to the café.

So Alex was waiting, on duty at the house, in case any of the vampires tried their tricks there again, although Hal didn't think that they would. She looked at the growing pile of equipment on the floor of the lounge, arranged neatly in three piles. Straight cut strips of linen, two hunting knives, a bundle of stakes and a litre bottle of Schnapps which Tom had found behind the bar. Bandages, a petrol-filled cigarette lighter, torches.

She went back to the window and carried on waiting.

* * *

Hal was right. The café was busy all day as he'd hoped it would be, any vampires trying to 'do business' with them were completely at a loss. They had come in twice, Jack and a younger man. They had hovered, rather unsettled by the activity inside – Tom and Hal had studiously ignored them and both times they had eventually left again.

See how you like that, thought the Old One, as Jack shut the café door with a disgruntled look on his face.

When the time came to lock up Tom looked around outside but there was no sign of them.

"Given up and gone home, I reckon," he said, bringing in the board and turning the 'Open' sign to 'Closed.'

"Not exactly given up," corrected his friend," but hopefully they've gone home considerably more irritable and restless than when they came."

"Come on then!" Tom was literally rolling up his sleeves, beside himself with excitement. "Let's go!"

"Patience." Hal briefly touched the younger man's upper arm. "Not quite yet. Let's get Alex and have a last think about our plans."

Tom rolled his eyes but followed the vampire to the car.

"I dunno why we ever plan anythin' anyways," he grumbled. "It always goes weird like. We might as well just go stormin' in wiv' out a plan – we'll most likely get the same result!"

Hal smiled at him.

"You do have a point. But it makes me feel better if we at least make a plan, even if as you say 'it all goes weird like'. Now, get out your mobile and call Alex. Tell her that we're on our way."

* * *

It was a calm, dark, quiet night. The streets were still, almost empty of traffic at such a late hour, just the occasional car driving past in the distance.

The moon was invisible tonight, hidden behind misty skies that threatened rain in the morning. The shadows were deep, velvety, long.

The man who stood in the doorway of the chemist's shop could not be seen. There were no shadows here, all the same the CCTV camera on the tall pole opposite sent back an image to it's control room of just an empty, silent street.

A clock chimed, far off, the sound travelling far across the peaceful town. Three o'clock. Hal shifted slightly, peering into the depths of the shop through the glass front door. All quiet. Lights off. He leant against the window and waited.

* * *

Tom and Alex meanwhile were breaking into the small, concreted yard at the back of the chemist's. The ghost glanced up and down the street several times, but nobody was about.

"S'alright," Tom reassured her. "No-one's up. And there ain't no CCTV round the back 'ere."

His fingers felt deftly around the latch on the gate – there was a satisfying click and as he pushed the wood gently, it swung open. Alex pulled a face as it squeaked loudly on it's hinges. They waited, standing like statues, but there was no sound from inside the shop. Tom let out a breath.

"Come on," he whispered, tucking his pick-lock back into his pocket and patting the ghost's arm reassuringly. They heard the clock chime the hour as they crept quietly through the gate. Alex looked up at the dark windows – no sign of life – and yet somehow she felt edgy. If she'd still been alive she would have shivered.

Tom was at the back door, peeping through the glass, listening intently with his head tilted to one side. He took his little kit of gadgets out of his pocket again and started to carefully probe and poke at the lock.

Alex undid the rucksack that her friend had put down on the ground. She took out one of the bottles, half-filled now with some of the Schnapps and a twist of neatly cut rag that had been partly pushed down into the liquid. It must be the strangest Molotov cocktail ever made, she thought to herself with a little smile – thought up by a werewolf and put together by a ghost and a vampire. And whoever heard of a bomb made with Austrian Schnapps? The three of them really were the strangest rescue squad in history.

She looked up as Tom put his finger to his lips. Had he heard something? They both froze for what seemed about five minutes but was in reality only about twenty seconds. Then, quite clearly, they heard the sound of a toilet flushing. Another minute of silence and Tom resumed his fiddling. In no time at all there was a gentle scraping sound and he lifted part of the lock away. Another visit to one of the deep pockets of his jacket and out came a small glass-cutter. He noticed Alex looking incredulously and shrugged, rather shamefacedly.

"Me an' McNair, like, sometimes we used to… like, well…"

"I don't want to know!" hissed the ghost.

Tom grinned and put the cutter against the window in the door. Another minute or two and there was a hand-sized hole that he slipped his fist into. He could feel door handle on the other side – he flipped the catch and gripped it tightly.

"Ready?" he asked the ghost.

Alex squared her shoulders and nodded once.

"Aye. Ready."

Tom opened the door – and all hell broke loose.

* * *

**Well, you didn't think it was going to be that easy for them did you? Here it comes at last - The Final Showdown! Good Luck!**


	26. Chapter 26

**I say it every time but massive thanks to all of you who leave feedback after reading. It's lovely to see how much you are all enjoying the story. Hope that you like this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter 26**

The light in the back room snapped on, momentarily blinding the rescuers.

"I knew it!" Jack was stood on the other side of the table, his face black with fury. He was holding a shotgun up against his shoulder. "That little bastard – I knew he'd double crossed me!"

Tom stood very still – the gun was pointed right at his chest. Alex, frozen to the spot, was like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

"Connor!" yelled Jack, as the other vampire appeared at the top of the stairs, behind all of the tape. "You can hurt her!"

The bearded man grinned wickedly, turned and ran back along the corridor. Lena appeared form the pharmacy, looking mildly hysterical. Nathan was behind her, dragging Danny who was scuffling furiously. There was a crash from upstairs – Connor was no doubt attempting to break down Zoe's door.

The shotgun was still pointed at Tom. Alex suddenly had a flash of inspiration – she rentaghosted into the shop, right next to Jack, and wrenched the weapon as far down towards the ground as she could. It was all that Tom needed – in an instant he'd kicked the vampire in the sternum, tumbling on top of him as he fell backwards and Alex pulled the gun from his hands.

Jack punched Tom in the face, disorientating him for a minute – he pushed the werewolf off of himself and made a break for the shop, just as Hal kicked down the front door.

"Get back to the bombs!" yelled Tom to the ghost, as she struggled up from the floor. "Cover us – stop 'em getting away!"

In an instant she was gone.

"What happened to the nice quiet entry?" shouted Hal, dodging a blow from Jack as he ducked behind the shop counter.

"It didn't work!" yelled back the werewolf, bearing down on Nathan, who was still struggling with a furious Danny. That fight didn't last long – a quick move from Tom, Conan appeared in his hand and Nathan was a pile of dust on the carpet. Or more accurately, a pile of dust covering most of Danny who sneezed and coughed as the other vampire quite literally went up in smoke.

Jack, fuelled by a furious madness, smashed his whole body into Hal's chest and knocked him flying across the shop. The Old One felt at least two of his ribs crack as he fell – the pain was sharp, grating and hurt fiercely as he tried to draw breath. He struggled to get to his feet - holding his arm across his chest he staggered into the little storeroom where the large fridges were, just in time to see Jack launch himself with an animal like howl at his traitorous pupil.

Hal tried to make for the stairs – he could sense that something dreadful was going on above the shop. It wasn't just the pain of his broken ribs that was causing such an adrenaline rush throughout his body. He caught hold of the handle of the large refrigerator that said "Blood Products Only" – the door swung open as he pulled on it. He stumbled past, not bothering to shut it. What was going on upstairs?

* * *

Zoe was fighting for her life – that was what was going on upstairs. She had woken when Hal had kicked in the shop door – although he wouldn't admit it later he had needed about three good bashes to the lock before it had given way and crashed open.

The light was on in the corridor – as she reached for the lamp by her bed she heard Connor come along the hallway. She lunged at the lock and flicked the little catch across just in time. The angry vampire began to pound at the locked door.

She scrambled to her feet in an instant – she knew exactly what Connor would do when he caught her. Kill her. She searched around frantically for something to use against him. The little storeroom had nothing remotely pointy in it that she could use as a stake.

Zoe dragged out all of the drawers, hurling them onto the floor as she looked for something, anything that she could use as a weapon. At least they would slow down Connor's advance when he got in. The door was practically bulging on it's hinges now – any moment and he would be through. She tugged vainly at the window which she already knew was too high up for escape.

The door crashed open. He was in.

* * *

Lena had disappeared somewhere – Tom had run to the back door but Alex said that she hadn't come out. He sniffed deeply – yes, she was still around somewhere, hiding probably in the little downstairs toilet. He pushed the door – locked. He'd get her in a minute.

Hal was climbing slowly up the stairs, his arm across his chest, teeth clenched against the pain in his ribs.

"Y'alright, Hal?" called Tom, just before Jack landed on both Danny and himself, and he was embroiled back in the fight again.

Conan was still rolling around on the floor somewhere, he couldn't see it. He tried to pull Beowulf from his pocket but he'd fallen backwards with his coat trapped underneath himself. Jack was on top of his chest, with Danny on top of _him_. He was fighting, tearing at his creator – the werewolf gave up and just tried to stay out of the way of the flying fists and feet as the two vampires quite literally tried to murder each other. Over on his left he could see Hal at the top of the stairs – what _was _that across the doorway? He became still as he realised what it was, then shuffled back as Jack's weight shifted suddenly and he managed to push Danny away. He grabbed a handful of the boy's hair and dragged him off of himself. His protégé struggled in vain as the older vampire knelt on him, where he lay on the floor, then looked up at Hal and laughed.

"Can't get past it, can you?" he mocked, delightedly. "It's a curse, Old One, not even you can beat that! All vampires believe in curses."

Tom held his breath.

Please, he thought, please remember. Please don't cock it up. You know you can do it.

His friend stood at the top of the stairs – he looked down at the young werewolf, his expression was unreadable. His gaze travelled across to Jack as without a word he took hold of a handful of tape and ripped it from the doorframe. He dropped it disdainfully onto the floor, before grabbing another lot, and then another.

Tom was grinning, he actually laughed out loud as his best friend methodically cleared the entire doorway of tape. Without a word, Hal looked back down at Jack, stuck two fingers up at the other vampire and went into the corridor, flashing a grin at Tom as he went. The werewolf leapt to his feet and cheered, until sidetracked by Jack smashing his fist into the back of his head. He turned, set his shoulders and threw himself back into the fight.

* * *

Connor tripped and stumbled across the room, trying to get hold of Zoe who was stood behind the reclining medical chair. She tried to run for the door as he drew closer but he was too quick for her – he caught hold of her shirt and yanked her backwards, ripping it as she fell against him.

"I'm gonna have you before I drain you," he leered at her, eyes bright with anger and passion.

No you're not, thought the girl, trying to push him away. He slammed her up against the wall – his hands' all over her, grabbing, squeezing her, fumbling with her bra. One hand slipped lower – oh, crap! – he began to grope downwards. Zoe began to panic, he was too strong for her, his mouth was smothering hers' – he was hurting her…

Suddenly he howled in agony, he fell away from her, holding his hands up to his face. He staggered and fell, landing amongst the wreckage on the floor.

"I can't see!" he screamed, a hand held out in front of himself. "You bitch! What have you done to me? Oh, hell…"

He fell to the floor, sobbing, curled up in a ball.

"It's agony!" he bellowed at her. "I'm cursed!"

His eyes were – well, it looked like he was weeping blood. Zoe was astounded, she had to creep closer. He lunged towards her, grabbing her ankle but she kicked him away. He cradled the hand that had touched her.

"You're burning me!" he howled. "Aren't you? You're killing me!"

In an instant she realised what was happening – it was Hal's mark upon her. She remembered his story – the other vampires, centuries ago – the man and woman who had loved each other, what had he said? Another vampire had tried to take her and had been struck down, unable to do so.

He had saved her! Hal had saved her without even being there. Zoe thought quickly, inspired by she knew not what. She ran to the little sink, swung herself up onto it and kicked again and again at the pipes beneath it, until eventually one began to come away from the wall. Water started to flood across the floor – she carried on kicking, stamping, even wrenching with her hands. She cut her palms trying to pull the pipe away but she couldn't feel the pain, she just kept dragging, pulling, twisting.

The pipe broke eventually, Zoe stumbled and grabbed for it. Connor dragged himself towards her, swearing – she didn't stop to think. The girl ran at him, pushed him backwards and shoved the stake up under his ribs.

He screamed, writhed – his back arched as he threw her off and onto the floor. She scrambled back on top of him – she used her foot to push on the pipe. There was blood everywhere, all over her, her hands were so slick and wet that she couldn't hold the metal of her improvised stake. She grabbed one of the drawers and used it as a hammer, smashing it against the pipe until suddenly - Connor was gone. Zoe was sat alone in the room, on a pile of ash and water and bloody clothes – alive.

* * *

Downstairs, Jack was tiring – he was a tall, strong man but against the young, fit werewolf and his ferociously angry former pupil he could not win. The sight of Hal, just ripping the curses apart had completely un-nerved him as well. As a vampire he believed implicitly in the validity of such things, just as Hal had done previously. To see someone who you think that you're about to beat make a complete mockery of one of your best defences is not a great experience.

He seized his chance – Tom let go of him with one hand as he reached into his pocket for a stake and at the same moment Danny pulled away a little to give the werewolf a better aim. Jack caught the young man off-balance with a quick shove and was on his feet in an instant. He kicked Tom in the head as he leapt across, momentarily stunning him. In a flash he was at the back door and through it – Alex never stood a chance as he knocked her flying. Without a word Danny leapt up and chased after him, grabbing Conan up off of the floor as he went. He pulled the ghost to her feet as he went past, squeezed her hand gently and then dashed off into the night, after his creator.

* * *

**That's all your getting for this chapter! Had to split it somewhere! Mwahahahaahhaaha *evil laugh* Next chapter up tomorrow or the next day. :))**


	27. Chapter 27

**I've just realised that this is actually going to be the penultimate chapter! Hope that you all enjoy it, and thanks again for ALL of the lovely reviews :) I really would have given up I think, without you guys reading it and giving me feedback.**

**Chapter 27**

Hal made his way slowly along the corridor. The pain in his side was already easing as the broken ribs began to knit together. Vampires healed quickly, thank God.

He was outside the door of the storeroom – it was silent in there, he was sure that Zoe's broken body must be lying drained of blood on the floor. But then he began to feel, what was it? Amazement? Relief? A flicker of hope began to sparkle inside him – resolutely he turned into the room.

Devastation – that was all he could think of to describe the scene before him. Total and utter carnage. Drawers were pulled out, their contents upturned on the floor and mingling now with the spreading river of water from the broken pipe. Boxes and tubs were rolling around on the work surfaces – a bandage had unravelled somehow and was tangled around a lampstand. The reclining chair had tipped over as Connor had lunged across it – it lay on it's side amongst the other wreckage. And there, in the middle of it all, sat Zoe - alive, with an incredulous expression on her face and looking as if she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She was filthy, covered in blood and water and ashes – next to her was the mushy mess of Connor's clothes. Relief and pride flooded through the old vampire – without a word he stepped forward, pulled Zoe to her feet and wrapped his arms close around her, holding on tight.

She didn't speak either, just hid her face against his chest for a few minutes, hugging him back fiercely. He winced after a while, she looked up, rubbing at her wet cheeks with one of her hands.

"Are you hurt?" she queried, worriedly.

Hal shook his head, smiling.

"It's nothing." He held her away from him. "Look at you – vampire hunter extraordinaire." The Old One blushed slightly as he stumbled over his next words. "I'm very proud of you."

Zoe grinned.

"I never knew that I had it in me." She looked around at the chaos. "What exactly is going on downstairs?"

"Ah yes." Hal tried to collect his thoughts. "I believe that we are in the middle of a fight. I intended to be your rescuer, but you appear to have beaten me to it. Would you be so kind as to come with me?"

"Er, like this?" Zoe pointed to her ripped shirt, which was revealing a substantial ammount of bare flesh underneath.

"Oh, um…" Hal slipped his old beige coat off and held it out to her, slightly embarrassed. She pulled it around herself, doing up all the buttons, unwilling to give the rest of the chemist's shop a flash of her underwear.

"Come on," the vampire took her filthy, bloody hand in his, barely even thinking of how he would need to scrub his own afterwards, and they both left the little prison behind.

* * *

Tom looked up as they appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Everyone awright?" he called up.

Hal nodded as they began to come down. Zoe was gazing around in admiration at the almost total destruction of the previously pristine back room.

"Where's Danny?" she asked suddenly.

Alex appreared in the doorway.

"He's just gone past me," she replied. "He's chasing that Jack guy."

"We have to catch him!" Zoe pulled away from Hal and headed for the back door, but Tom caught her arm as she tried to pass. He shook his head.

"Leave him." His young face was sad. "He needs to fight Jack himself."

"But he might be killed!" Zoe struggled against the werewolf's grip, but he held on firmly.

"Tom's right," said Hal quietly. "What happens must be between Jack and Danny alone. We cannot interfere, whatever the outcome may be."

"I dinnae get to use my wee cocktails," said Alex sadly, distracting them. "Ye all were getting stuck in there, and I ended up doing nothing but being knocked over." She held a Molotov cocktail in one hand and Tom's Zippo lighter in the other. "Och, well, I suppose it's good in a way."

"Come on," Tom still held on to Zoe in case she tried to make a run for it. She _did_ understand however, she wouldn't follow her brother. The werewolf's arm felt nice around her though – she realised that she was cold. Hal was still stood on the bottom step as suddenly the toilet door flew open, Lena appeared and wrenched the lighter from Alex's hand. Before any of them could reach her she had run to one of the large oxygen cylinders and turned it on. She held the lighter against it – ready to ignite the escaping gas.

"We only wanted you to help us," she pleaded, looking up at Hal. "That's all we needed. We were left alone – we just wanted a leader. We were alone."

The other vampire frowned.

"Why didn't you just ask?" he said.

"It's not the vampire way." Tom couldn't help it, he sniggered quietly. Lena glared at him. She gesticulated towards the others. "We wanted to alienate your friends too – it's not right for you to live with people like them. You should be with your own kind."

Silence. Hal's hands were balled into fists. He exhaled slowly.

"But I _am _with my own kind," he said softly. "Can you not see? I am with my friends, with people who accept me for what I am, not for what they want me to be."

He gazed down at Tom, who smiled his gentle smile back.

"I would never have led you." He spoke clearly, looking directly at Lena. "The vampire way is no longer my way. I _will _win against it, I _will_."

His voice broke very slightly, he glanced at Alex who winked at him, nodding.

"I cannot help you," he stated, finally.

"Very well," snarled Lena, and ignited the lighter.

* * *

They all froze, horrified, but luckily so did the lighter – it jammed without a spark being seen.

"Alex!" yelled Hal. "Get it off of her!"

The ghost grabbed for it, but Lena pulled away, flicking it again. Again it jammed.

"Get her out!" Hal ordered Tom, pointing at Zoe.

"No chance!" The girl tried to elbow the young man in his stomach but he was too strong. He started dragging her towards the front of the shop. The vampire leapt for the two tussling women – he landed on Lena, knocking her to the floor but the lighter was still in her hand. Alex pulled away, he didn't know what she was doing – she had run back to the kitbag and was digging around in it.

Hal was practically sitting on Lena – he wrenched the lighter from her hand eventually and stood up. The ghost was back at the doorway again – she had the box of matches now and one of the unlit Molotov's.

"Throw them all in here," ordered Hal, before Lena threw herself on top of him again and he fell, striking his head on the table and knocking himself out. He was unconscious for mere seconds but when he came round the other vampire had started on Alex again, trying to get hold of the matches now. He realised that he must have dropped the lighter as he fell, it was nowhere to be seen. The ghost had thrown the bag of little bombs inside as requested – two had smashed, the smell of Schnapps was pungent in the room.

Hal rubbed his left temple where he had collided with the table. He checked for Tom – he and Zoe had gone through to the smaller storeroom and were behind the counter. It would protect them, he knew. He looked back at Alex – her ghostly form would be untouched by what he had planned. Just himself then.

"Lena," he spoke quietly, but she stopped fighting. "You cannot win. Come with us. Try to live like us."

"No!" She tried to pull away from Alex. " I want this – I want the blood." Her eyes were glassy now, maniacal. She laughed and licked her lips. " I live for it, I adore it. You'll have to kill me."

A beat.

"Very well." Hal looked at Tom. "Get down," was all he said.

"Alex," he held out his hand, " the matches please."

She looked at him wonderingly, but threw them across. Lena leapt for him again but he knocked her away to the ground. He took out a match, and in that instant his three friends' realised what he was planning to do. He intended to ignite the bombs with himself and Lena right next to them.

"No!" screamed Zoe, as Tom yelled "Hal, don't!"

Alex was speechless, horrified – she stuttered but couldn't speak.

"Get down!" Hal ordered Tom again, and the werewolf obeyed, dragging a struggling Zoe to the floor.

It had all moved so quickly he hadn't had time to think about the imminent termination of his existence. Probably just as well. Lena was struggling up again, she knocked the rucksack aside and there, caught underneath, was the lighter. In that instant he had a plan – he grabbed the Zippo form the floor and scrambled up, pushing the other vampire away yet again as she scratched at his face, drawing blood.

"I'm sorry," he spoke quietly, looking down at Lena. She said nothing.

Hal took two strides in the direction of the shop. He turned, triggered the lighter and tossed it, straight at the bag of Molotovs' and the hissing oxygen cylinder. The room exploded.

* * *

**Well, there we are! End of story! Mwahahahaahaha - only joking! But the next chapter I think will be the last, not sure if I may do a short epilogue. Should be uploaded in next couple of days :)**


	28. Chapter 28

**Well, we're finally here - this is The Last Chapter! End of the line for our heroes! No more after this! *Sobs into brown silk handkerchief***

** I didn't realise how much I would enjoy sharing my story with all of you, or how much I would love all the feedback, and being able to reply to you all!** **Several of you have asked if there will be a sequel - I hadn't intended to write one but you've got me thinking now...so there may well be one in the future. I already have a plan for my next fanfic - need to write it now though!**

**This chapter has to be dedicated to "My Lot" - the three oddballs who live with me and have put up with me scribbling in corners, stealing their laptops and muttering about vampires for the last few months! My dear old OH, who some of you have met, Trevor and our two 'spenders of parents money and time' - aka claudsrachel and mimsybelle. Thanks guys!**

* * *

**Chapter 28**

Alex stood in incredulous amazement as the whole room blew up around her. Her ghostly form was immune to the explosion – she watched as pieces of metal and wood and thousands of shards of glass went flying past and through her. She held out her hands to try and catch some but they just sailed on by.

A thundering boom had accompanied the explosion, due to the oxygen cylinder which had been torn apart in front of her. Lena was gone, disintegrated, blown to the four winds. Alex couldn't say that she felt sorry for the woman. The wall and ceiling were ablaze, what was left of the large table was buring too and as she watched the stairs began to ignite slowly, one after another.

She became aware of movement suddenly, Tom was struggling up from behind the counter, pulling Zoe with him. They were unhurt, thank God - saved by the brick counter, just as Hal had guessed. Hal! Where was he? Alex screamed his name, suddenly panic-stricken – terrified that one of her anchors to this world had been torn away from her.

"Where is he?" yelled Tom. Zoe couldn't stop herself shaking - she wanted to cover her eyes, she couldn't bear to think of what they might find.

"Hal!" the werewolf shouted again, fear rising in his voice. "HAL!"

And then suddenly, miraculously – from behind the door of the large refrigerator which he had pulled open earlier – there was Hal emerging, grimacing and tripping on the rubble. In those last few moments he had seen the open fridge - as he threw the lighter one way he had thrown himself in the other direction. The outside of the door was pockmarked with shrapnel – the man on the other side was almost unscathed.

Alex was completely overwhelmed – she had her arms around the vampire before he could even speak. He just smiled gently and held her close for a moment, letting go to grab Tom's arm as the werewolf clapped him on the shoulder. Zoe sneaked under his free arm and put her arms around his waist – he stroked her hair and briefly lay his cheek against her forehead.

"Let's get out of here," said Tom eventually, pointing at the two unexploded oxygen cylinders.

"I couldn't agree more." Hal carefully peeled the two girls off of himself. "The back door, I think?"

So out they went, leaving the wreckage of the chemists shop to the interested ministrations of Cardiff's finest, who they could hear approaching rapidly in the distance.

* * *

The old guest house stood quietly in the soft glow of the afternoon sun. The rain which had threatened during the night had erupted over the town just after lunchtime, drenching everything underneath it. There had been several long, loud rolls of thunder and some brilliant flashes of lightening, but the occupants of Honolulu Heights had slept through it all. Even Alex, who normally survived on about an hour of sleep a week had been dead to the world upstairs.

She was awake now though, sitting on the window ledge in her bedroom, looking out at a beautiful rainbow spreading itself over the roofs of Barry. She felt peaceful, still drowsy as she thought back dreamily over the events of the previous hours.

The team had made it back to Leo's car in the nick of time, driving at a sensible speed around the corner and away as the constabulary of Cardiff arrived from the opposite direction. The mood in the old Mercedes had been elated – although Zoe was worrying about her brother it hadn't subdued her or the others unduly. Tom couldn't stop laughing - he kept clouting Hal on the shoulder who after several whacks growled through his teeth that if he did it again the werewolf would be walking the rest of the way home.

Even so, the old vampire kept breaking into an uncharacteristic grin – he looked into the back once and asked Alex if she'd seen him pull the curses down. She nodded furiously.

"That was wicked!" she beamed. "So proud of you, sugar! Ye totally kicked vampire ass back there."

It was still dark when they arrived home, Hal sighed inwardly with relief, having no idea how they would have explained the sight of their filthy, bloody selves to any interested neighbours. It was a rush for the bathroom when they went inside – Tom heroically stood back and let Hal go first. The old vampire almost broke into a run and started taking his clothes off as he was still going up the stairs, leaving them in a heap on the floor.

Zoe dragged the clothes airer into the room to use as a screen and climbed in the bath, paying no attention to the singing vampire in the shower next to her. By the time that she climbed out again the water was the colour of soot. Hal was still oblivious and belting out 50's hits from the shower cubicle. Tom went for a bath himself, and had put all of their filthy clothes into the washing machine before there were any signs of movement from the vampire. The girls had clattered about making tea and cooking eggs and bacon before Hal eventually re-appeared, looking as if he had stepped straight out of the pages of an old-fashioned gentleman's magazine. He was immaculate – neat and pristine in his braces and pinstriped shirt.

Then gradually they had all fallen asleep, Tom on one sofa and Zoe on the other – Hal had smiled and thrown a blanket over each of them before disappearing himself. When Alex found him again he was upstairs in the attic, fast asleep in Annie's old chair.

Almost as if he's come up here to tell her about it all, thought Alex a little sadly, as she remembered the other ghost.

So she'd come downstairs, just to lie on her own bed for a few minutes but before she knew it the afternoon was nearly over and they'd slept the rest of the day away.

There was a ring at the doorbell, startling her. Before she could move she heard Tom's voice in the hall, the front door opened and she could hear Danny.

She was halfway down the stairs again in her excitement before she remembered to rentaghost He stood, worn out, pale and sad – he hugged Zoe and herself, when he saw Hal his voice broke as he tried to speak. Tom patted the young vampire's shoulder gently as Danny managed to stutter out with a whisper that Jack was dead.

Hal nodded, and touched the young man's arm briefly – Zoe led him into the living room where he told them that he'd caught up with his maker not far away. They had fought, the older vampire was stronger but it seemed, said Danny, as if he had lost all his hope, his vitality.

"I was so angry," whispered the younger man, "and he knew it. He was shouting at me – "love gets us every time, ruins our plans, kills our instincts." He told me that I haven't got a hope. Then he sort of twisted away from me somehow, almost put himself under the stake so I…I pushed it in and that was it. Over."

His twin put her arm around him and laid her cheek against his bent head. Hal pulled the coffee table closer and sat on it in front of him. He leant forward, elbows on knees, trying to find the right words.

"You have more than a hope," he said eventually. "A vampire like Jack cannot possibly understand the omplexity and completeness of love. The love of a brother and sister" – he patted Zoe's arm briefly – "the love of friends' for each other, the love that people have for their home, or their roots."

"Love will always beat evil, always. It may not do it immediately, it may take time, years, but it will always win in the end. And youwill always win because you have made that choice to become different to the rest of them, the same choice that I made. We may fail sometimes, and slip and fall away, but love – for our friends, our families, the whole human race – it will always bring us back. It will always save us."

Absolute silence. Danny looked up at him. That was why Hal fought so hard to stay clean, and why Zoe still trailed around after her brother. It was why Annie and Tom had looked after each other, and why the werewolf in turn had tied the old vampire to a chair to bring him back to humanity when he couldn't do it alone. It was why Alex was still here – the house, her friends, her unfinished business.

Danny nodded slowly. He knew it, he'd always known it. The Old One was right.

* * *

September. Zoe's job at the beach hut was drawing to an end. Danny was doing well with his lessons. It seemed as if a subtle change had come over the old guest house – time for the twins to move on for a while, they both felt it.

Hal had managed to get hold of a friend of his, a vampire called Adam. He explained that Adam's girlfriend Yvonne was a succubus, and as long as Danny didn't physically touch her their life would be nice and staid and boring.

Like that's ever going to happen, thought Zoe, but kept her mouth shut.

Adam and Yvonne had bought a little guesthouse on a remote Scottish island – just a few tourists every now and then. The ex-schoolteacher was very enthusiastic at the thought of the twins coming to stay for a while, and they were glad not to have to return to their old lives back in London.

So today was the day that they were leaving. Everything was packed and Tom and Danny were making a total pig's ear of fiddling with the car engine. Mostly they appeared to be laughing and mucking about.

Zoe came downstairs slowly – she had been wandering from room to room dreamily, saying goodbye to the house she told Hal, as he looked up from his dominoes.

"You don't need to say goodbye though," he corrected her, standing carefully and walking towards her. "Just 'a bientot.'"

"That means 'see you soon' doesn't it?" she asked. Hal nodded.

"You will always be welcome with us, whether we are still here or elsewhere. You are part of our household now."

His dark eyes were grave, gentle. Zoe felt her own filling with tears, a wave of sadness that was not entirely her own washed over her suddenly. The vampire very gently touched the back of her hand with his fingers – she caught his and brought them up to her eyes. She only held his hand for a moment but when she let go Hal could feel the tears sliding across his knuckles.

"We can always find each other, you remember?" he said. She nodded. "If you're ever in trouble, I shall know."

"Same goes for you," she gulped, wiping her face and nose unsuccessfully with her sleeve. The vampire sighed and produced a handkerchief from his pocket.

"Perhaps next time we meet, you will have bought yourself some of these," he smiled.

The front door crashed open. Hal winced.

"Mind the walls, Alex," he grumbled.

"Aye, whatever." The ghost bounced in, picked up Zoe and twirled her around. "Are ye ready?"

The human girl nodded.

"Come on then, sugar." The Scottish spirit slipped her arm through her friend's and led her down the path. The little car was ready at last, luggage in the boot, full tank of petrol, oil and tyres all checked. It was exciting – Danny was doing well, they were going somewhere new and Hal, Tom and Alex would always be their dear friends now.

Even for me, thought Zoe, humble little human me.

She was in the passenger seat now, the window was down and she leant on the doorframe. Tom was beaming, waving, Alex was looking rather tearful. Suddenly Hal was pushing a book into Zoe's hands – Shakespeare's Comedies.

"Crikey!" she stammered.

"Borrow it," he said, before he could change his mind.

"Seriously?" she was incredulous. "But…but…it'll leave a space on your shelf! It'll muck up your system."

"It's alright, really," Hal smiled. " I'll be alright. You can bring it back when we meet again. Besides, I have a photograph of two friends of mine standing where the book was."

Zoe grinned like an idiot. The car lurched forward and began to roll down the hill. A shouted goodbye, kisses blown – suddenly Danny put the brake on and quickly popped his head up through the sunroof.

"You know what?" he yelled back to the others, laughing.

"What?" called Tom. Danny winked.

"Someone should write a story about us."

* * *

**The End.**


End file.
